‘Sometimes Arsenal spend one minute taking a corner’

Hurzeler criticises Arsenal over delays at cornersImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Brighton are 11th in the Premier League following back-to-back wins over Nottingham Forest and BrentfordPublished1 hour agoBrighton manager Fabian Hurzeler has called for stricter rules around set-pieces and criticised upcoming opponents Arsenal for time-wasting.Hurzeler, whose side host the Premier League leaders on Wednesday, claimed the Gunners sometimes wait “over one minute” to take their corners.Arsenal’s prowess at set-pieces continues to fuel their title charge, with Sunday’s victory over Chelsea the ninth time the Gunners have scored a match-winning goal from a corner this season.But they have also been at the forefront of recent discussions around grappling and blocking at set-pieces, with Everton boss David Moyes identifying Mikel Arteta’s side as the trailblazers for the use of “dark arts”.Asked why he believes Arsenal’s approach to set-pieces has received the level of attention it has, Hurzeler stated: “There are no clear rules anymore [around] how much time you can spend taking a corner or a throw-in. “Some of the ways teams are blocking, there’s no real rule. Sometimes the referee whistles and it’s a foul, sometimes it isn’t a foul or they don’t whistle. “[We need] a clear rule on how much time you can take for a corner, a free-kick, because no-one recognises it. When Arsenal have a corner and they are leading, sometimes they spend over one minute just to take a corner.”The statistics show that, on average, no Premier League team take longer to restart from corners than Arsenal.Hurzeler pointed to the responsibility he feels clubs have to ensure match-going fans are being provided with value for money.”Every supporter pays a lot of money to watch our games and should see the same game time,” Hurzeler stated.”They want to see a football event, not maybe 50 minutes when the ball is in the game and 40 minutes when the game is not running,” Hurzeler stated.”But we won’t change these rules immediately. We know how important set-pieces are. At the moment it’s a big trend in the league and we definitely need to adapt to it.”Matches involving Hurzeler’s Brighton have the ball in play 56.2% of the time – the fifth-highest in the league, above seventh-ranked Arsenal (55.7%).The Gunners’ average delay time over free-kicks, goal-kicks and throw-ins is in keeping with other Premier League clubs.But their average 44.35-second delay at corners is almost 50% longer than that of Chelsea, who they defeated with their 15th and 16th league goals from corner routines this season.How can football’s lawmakers fix the corner chaos?