Arsenal slapped their biggest criticism across the face & nobody can deny it

It is a good time to be an Arsenal fan these days. The team is winning most, if not all of their games. Their direct rivals, Liverpool, aren't, leaving the North London outfit at the top of the table more than a month into the season.

There is still a long way to go before anything is decided, but it seems like this might finally be Arsenal's year. They just have to do what they are doing and get the results in.

However, one general misconception about Arsenal has received a little too much attention in the media in the last few weeks.

It has been around the block for a few years now, but now, it is being talked about more and more, and against Fulham, they basically slapped this bit of criticism right in the face.

Arsenal is more than just a set-piece team

Arsenal is a well-worked team that specialises in set-pieces. They have objectively been the best big team in the world at set-pieces in the last two years, and there is no denying it by the number of goals they score from corners and free kicks.

After the win over Fulham last weekend, the home side's manager, Marco Silva, came out and talked about Arsenal's lack of goalscoring from open play.

However, what he did not know at the time is that Arsenal actually created an xG of 1.34 solely from open play.

So, yes, they are scoring more from set-pieces - they did against Fulham as well - but they create a lot of chances from open play as well, and that has to go into account.

Silva, after the game, said this: "It is frustrating. It is hard to stop. They are lucky as they have very good takers too. It is a hard challenge. I think they have scored more than 60% of their goals from set-pieces. What is frustrating for us is we felt we were very well prepared for that moment."

It is also interesting that Silva called Arsenal "lucky" to have very good takers. Arsenal's recruitment has been great in the last few years, and boiling it down to just luck seems a little extreme.

Arsenal do have a set-piece coach whose entire job is to make the team work well in set-pieces. So, there is a bit more than just luck in what Arsenal do.

Regardless, the stats show it: Arsenal are regularly creating chances from open play. They need set-pieces - every team does - but goals from open play will come sooner rather than later.

These are the sorts of games that win you the Premier League, and Arsenal are getting results in even when their performances are not nice and aesthetically pleasing, which is the most important part.