Arsenal Fall to Villarreal at the Emirates as Set-Piece Struggles Persist

By Bashir Adigun

Arsenal suffered a 3-2 defeat to Spanish side Villarreal in their first home fixture of the preseason at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening — a match that raised fresh concerns for manager Mikel Arteta ahead of the new Premier League season.
Despite a promising start and early dominance in possession, the Gunners were undone by a combination of defensive lapses, ineffective set-pieces, and poor response to counter-attacks — a pattern that mirrored issues from their previous outing.
In a surprising turn of events, it was former Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe who opened the scoring for Villarreal on his return to north London, tapping in from close range against the run of play. The visitors doubled their lead shortly after, with Karl Etta Eyong finding space inside the box to slot past a visibly unsettled David Raya.
Christian Norgaard, one of Arsenal’s six summer signings fielded in the match, quickly halved the deficit with a header — his first goal in red and white. Yet the momentum shift was short-lived.
After the interval, Arnaut Danjuma capitalised on a swift counter-attack to restore Villarreal’s two-goal cushion, exposing Arsenal’s lingering vulnerability to quick transitions — a flaw that could prove costly once the Premier League season begins.
Arteta, much like in the last outing, made sweeping changes in the second half in a bid to turn things around, but the substitutions once again arrived after the damage had been done.
Captain Martin Ødegaard converted a penalty with 15 minutes to play, offering hope of a comeback. However, the Gunners failed to find the equaliser in the closing stages, despite late pressure.
Concerns continue to grow over Arsenal’s set-piece execution. Declan Rice, who was tasked with delivering most of the corners and free-kicks, struggled to create meaningful threats from dead-ball situations. Meanwhile, goalkeeper David Raya looked increasingly jittery under aerial pressure during defensive set-pieces — a weakness Villarreal appeared eager to exploit.
With just one more warm-up match remaining before the Premier League kicks off next week, Arteta has little time to address the glaring gaps in both set-piece efficiency and defensive solidity.
” I think the result is painful. I think they were super efficient but we’ve been naive, especially the way we have defended in open spaces and that’s something that, especially the way we play, we have to absolutely nail. Today we haven’t been good at all in that department and that has cost us the game for sure”.
Arsenal fans will be hoping that the lessons from this defeat are swiftly translated into improvements as the Gunners aim to launch another serious challenge for silverware in the new season.