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The dark arts of Arsenal: An exploration of the tactics used during their 2-2 draw at Man City
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The dark arts of Arsenal: An exploration of the tactics used during their 2-2 draw at Man City

Under Premier League rules, there is no exact time teams are allowed to restart play after a goal kick or free kick.

Instead, referees must determine whether players are taking too much time when restarting play.

During Sunday’s match, Declan Rice was cautioned in the 83rd minute when he took over a minute to take a free-kick in City’s half after a foul on Kai Havertz.

Raya was regularly booed by the home crowd in the second half, with City fans thinking the Spaniard waited too long to take his goal kicks.

The 29-year-old player was warned by referee Oliver in the 32nd minute about the time it took him to restart play, but he was not warned during the match.

Statistics from Opta show that Arsenal have taken an average of 33.5 seconds to restart play this season, the longest in the Premier League.

This applies to restarts in all ‘dead ball situations’: goal kicks, corner kicks, free kicks, direct free kicks, throw-ins, penalties, drop balls and kick-offs.

Only Ligue 1 club Lille and Serie A team Genoa in Europe’s top five leagues have a higher average playing time than Arsenal.

Specifically, to restart play via a goal kick, Arteta’s side took an average of 40 seconds, longer than any other Premier League club this season.

That’s more than double that of rivals Tottenham, who have restarted play after an average of 17.4 seconds from a goal kick so far this season.