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The praise seems to come with the caveat of a but these days. Yeah, but they only score from corners. They have become Set Piece FC. Own goals is their second highest scorer. Oh, how we laugh.

Of course we’re talking about Arsenal. And the extraordinary lengths some people will go to avoid giving them any sort of credit.

Arsenal were under pressure, under the microscope and had taken two points from their previous three games. They went to Leeds knowing it was a huge game. Then they lost their talisman, Bukayo Saka, in the warm-up.

And what did they do? They smashed Leeds 4-0 away from home. That was only Leeds’ third home defeat of the season. Do you know how difficult it is to win at Elland Road?

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Noni Madueke was promoted from the bench to the starting line-up and played a blinder. An assist, his corner (given as an own goal against Karl Darlow) should be his goal and Arsenal scored just one of their four goals from set-pieces.

And yet they still get battered. It is bordering on embarrassing. They are top of the Premier League, finished top of the Champions League table, are in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup and are still in the FA Cup. And yet there’s still a but.

Manchester City play better football. I tend to agree. But even Pep Guardiola joked he parked the bus at the Emirates earlier in the season.

The worst champions in Premier League history, says Paul Scholes. Really? Have you checked how many internationals they have?

Cards on the table here. I have criticised them a fair bit this season. I even did a piece before Leeds analysing why the number of set-piece goals (57 per cent which made them 17th out of 20) and why safety-first Mikel Arteta has gone down that route.

Well, it’s quite simple. They have finished runners-up three years running and last season they let too many leads slip.

And guess what? They got battered for being bottlers and always finishing second. So, Arteta tries to address the issue… and still gets battered. He can’t win!

Let’s be clear. I’d prefer to see free-flowing champagne football. Surely we all would. But three out of their four goals at Leeds were from open play. And still we focus on the goal they scored from a corner.

The first one seems to be credited as a corner. Really? The ball was cleared. Madueke’s cross was sensational and Martin Zubimendi headed in.

And what about the win and performance? Come on. That’s a statement win. Credit where credit’s due. And yet still the but comes. It’s madness.

I’ve also been critical of Arsenal’s recruitment. I don’t think Viktor Gyokeres is anywhere near good enough for Arsenal. Of all the players signed last summer, I don’t think enough have improved the team. It’s a bigger squad. But that doesn’t make it the best squad.

I think the sporting director Andrea Berta should be under the spotlight. Not Arteta. He has done the best with what he’s got.

And it’s worth pointing out they are the second top scorers in the Premier League and blew the whole of Europe away.

Just look at the stats. According to CannonStats.com (who credit their data to Opta), Arsenal (who won all eight games, by the way), had +19 goal difference (beating Bayern Munich by five) and 17 goals came from open play (second only to Bayern).

Liverpool actually scored more goals than Arsenal from set-pieces. Arsenal had an xG of 15.2 from open play.

So, do you know why this is? To me, it’s obvious. In Europe, teams come out to play. You get more space and chances from open play.

In the Premier League, teams sit back and defend. They create a low block. City are good at unlocking it. Very good.

But Arsenal had to find a different way. They played such good football in Arteta’s first two title challenges. They became popular with the neutrals because of it. But they finished second.

Now they have tried to find a winning formula. Trust me, if Arsenal come up short, I will be the first to criticise and say it’s a wasted opportunity. But until they do, surely they deserve a bit more credit.

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