- Ben White was a threat in the box against Tottenham last week
- Bournemouth managed it well from the start against Arsenal on Saturday
- Kai Havertz’s mental strength has been impressive… after a difficult start to the season, he has proven his worth – Listen to the It’s all starting! podcast
It’s those pesky dark arts that Ben White deploys that have lately taken attention away from his playing ability.
As seen against Tottenham last weekend, White in the opposition area on corner kicks is a threat. That day he was involved in two of Arsenal’s goals, appearing to try to undo goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario’s gloves before the ball reached the area for the first goal.
And then for the third goal, scored by Kai Havertz, he backed up Vicario at the goal line to leave him standing there.
Because of this, Bournemouth had clearly done their homework. As seen on Arsenal’s first two corners of this game, within 10 minutes a Cherries player was forcing White to the goal line.
This robbed White of the opportunity to cheat on the goal line, which Mail Sport columnist Graeme Souness previously described as “cheating”.
Ben White’s early throw-ins caught the eye in Arsenal’s win over Bournemouth
Bournemouth had done their homework against White’s threat from offensive set pieces.
The right back, in the second half, adopted different positions on corner kicks, including a shot from the near post in the 58th minute.
However, in light of the praise Arsenal have received for their corner routines, the question arose: what was the difference in Dominic Solanke’s tussle with David Raya in the build-up to Antoine Semenyo’s shot, which was disallowed? What does White do in corners?
Not much, in any case. There needs to be some consistency.
Overall, White performed well, but he’s a bag of tricks, which also shows that he doesn’t just have plans for the corners. Some of his throw-ins caught the eye early on, whether catching the opponent off guard by quickly distributing the ball as Bournemouth set up. Or the distance he could throw the ball, which was impressive.
The England international found other ways to impress in the 3-0 victory at the Emirates.
White was caught unbuttoning the gloves of Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario last week.
It was Ryan Christie’s conduct that garnered the most scrutiny, a high tackle on Bukayo Saka (his studs planted on the winger’s knee) escaping any punishment. The VAR deemed the challenge reckless but not dangerous. That was really controversial.
After this there were a couple of strong tackles from Christie that flew by. We had to wait until the 95th minute to receive the yellow card.
So White went unnoticed. However, she required the full attention of the opposition from her.
