Many a time over the recent season have Arsenal fans been frustrated by opponents sitting deep and defending in numbers, especially when visiting Highbury / The Grove. The key to success against Arsenal has been to play tight in the defence not giving the attacking players any space to thread passes into the box and then attack on the counter-attack.

Arsenal’s recent games have shown that the players are not shy to take a pop at long range efforts. Not only are they now shooting, but they are actually scoring! And not only Fabregas is able to do so, but as we saw with Diaby, there are more players who are capable of such screamers. Rosicky and Touré both also have both mighty shots on them and when they get into positions, any defender backing off is inviting trouble.

This could prove to be a major asset with the club going for silverware this season, as opponents can no longer just sit back and wait for us to lose the ball when going for the perfect pass. Now they have to come out and put players under pressure also when the ball is passed at a distance that just a season back was considered ‘safe’ ground by the defenders.

This will leave the defending team in a catch 22 situation:

1. If the defenders do not come out, the Arsenal players will have a free shot and as displayed of late, this is likely, if not to end up in the net, then at least to cause trouble for the defending team and with Arsenal’s improved set pieces, even corners are nowadays in fact a real menace.

2. If the defenders actually do take Arsenal’s shooting power and accuracy as a threat (which by now they should), they will come out, which in turn will leave space for Arsenal’s patented quick one-twos on the edge of the box.

Obviously, not all teams will leave Fabregas with acres of space just outside the box (as did Tottenham), but even under pressure he is able to find the back of the net (as he did against Derby recently). Still many teams are glad to sit back, but with our recent record of goals from outside the box, things might have to change sooner rather than later.

The dilemma for the opponents is obvious: Sit back and we’ll score from range. Come out and we’ll score the typical Arsenal goal with slick passing and simple tap-ins.