Arsenal have travelled to Dubai for their customary mid-season warm weather training camp.

The Gunners have six days in the Middle East to rest and recuperate ahead of the remaining months of the season.

Manchester United beat Arsenal in the FA Cup third round, which has freed Mikel Arteta’s team’s schedule up for this weekend, allowing them to embark on this trip.

The Spaniard’s squad are in desperate need of recharging their batteries, having negotiated their way through a hectic and congested set of fixtures in recent months.

The break will allow Arteta to work on small tactical details and prepare the blueprint for his team to reignite the Premier League title race.

Arsenal to work on set-pieces in Dubai

Arsenal have taken a huge squad to Dubai, including injured duo Bukayo Saka and Ben White, as well as several youngsters.

White returned to training on Friday morning, and is expected to be fit to feature against Leicester after the break.

With every single player in the squad in the Middle East regardless of their injury status, Arteta will likely be preparing some team bonding exercises to boost morale.

However, he’ll also have plenty of time to work on tactical nuances on the training pitch.

According to the Standard, Arsenal will focus on their set-piece routines over the next week.

Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover is planning to freshen up his approach for dead-ball situations, and will look to implement some new ideas in this regard.

Arsenal have been ‘deadly’ from set-pieces this season, although their effectiveness from them has declined somewhat without Saka’s exceptional delivery.

The absence of the team’s talisman may prompt Jover to find new ways to create threat from set-pieces taken from the right.

If Jover can create an even more threatening set-piece team over the next week, it could make all the difference in the title race, as the Gunners look to hunt down leaders Liverpool.

Arsenal’s set-piece statistics 2024/25

The data suggests Arsenal are already the most potent team in the English top flight from set-piece scenarios, so any improvement from this point would be frightening for opposition teams.

Only Crystal Palace have scored as many goals from set-pieces this season (10), while no team has amassed as many expected goals from them.

Top Attacking Set-Piece teams in the Premier League 2024/25
Team	Set-piece xGF	Set-piece goals
Arsenal	11.93	10
Aston Villa	10.28	9
Nottingham Forest	9.81	9
Bournemouth	9.01	7
Crystal Palace	8.74	10
Manchester City	8.47	5

While Jover’s innovation from these situations certainly helps Arsenal’s set-pieces remain unpredictable, the key is in the personnel.

The Gunners possess elite corner takers in Saka and Declan Rice, while the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba and Kai Havertz are dangerous aerial threats in the box.

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