Arsenal’s dark arts: Exploring the tactics used during their 2-2 draw at Man City
Under Premier League rules, there is no exact time afforded to teams to resume play from goal-kicks and free-kicks.
Instead, referees must decide if ‘excessive’ time is taken by players when resuming play.
During Sunday’s match, Declan Rice was cautioned in the 83rd minute when he took more than one minute to take a free-kick in City’s half following a foul on Kai Havertz.
Raya was regularly booed by the home crowd during the second half, with City fans feeling the Spaniard took too long over goal-kicks.
The 29-year-old was warned by referee Oliver about the time he was taking to restart play in the 32nd minute – but was not cautioned during the match.
Statistics from Opta show Arsenal have spent an average of 33.5 seconds in resuming play this season – the joint-longest in the Premier League.
This relates to restarts from all ‘dead-ball’ situations – goal-kicks, corners, free-kicks, direct free-kicks, throw-ins, penalties, drop-balls and kick-offs.
Only Ligue 1 side Lille and Serie A team Genoa across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues have a higher average restart time than Arsenal.
Specifically on restarting play via a goal-kick, Arteta’s side have taken an average of 40 seconds, longer than any other Premier League club this season.
It is more than double that of rivals Tottenham, who have resumed play from a goal-kick on average after 17.4 seconds so far this term.
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