Fabian Hurzeler calls out Arsenal, demands 'clear rules' around time-wasting at corners

Set-pieces have been key to Arsenal's successful Premier League campaign so far, with both goals in their win over Chelsea on Sunday coming from corners

Brighton and Hove Albion manager Fabian Hurzeler. Pic: Adam Davy/PA

Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler believes there is a lack of clarity around the rules at corner kicks - and that Arsenal take full advantage of that.

Set-pieces have been key to the Gunners' successful Premier League campaign so far, with both goals in their win over Chelsea on Sunday coming from corners.

Hurzeler, whose Brighton team host Arsenal on Wednesday night, believes there are too many grey areas in the law where corners are concerned, and accused Mikel Arteta's team of using them to waste time.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot believes the reliance on set-pieces is removing the "joy" from Premier League matches, and asked why he felt there was such negativity around set-pieces, Hurzeler said: "I think because it disturbs the rhythm of the game and there are no clear rules any more how much time you can spend for a corner, how much time you can spend for a throw-in.

"Some of the blocking or the way teams are blocking, I think there's no clear rule - sometimes the referee whistles and it's a foul, sometimes he doesn't.

Corners proved critical once again to Arsenal fortunes at the weekend. Pic: Nick Potts/PA

"I think that's why we have this topic at the moment but for me the main topic is (to) make a clear rule how much time you can waste for a corner, for a throw-in, for a free-kick.

"When Arsenal has a corner and they are leading, sometimes they spend over one minute just to take a corner.

"Therefore I think we just have to make clear rules, because in the end we have game time of 50 minutes instead of sometimes 65 minutes. The game is changing so much. We analyse it and the difference is massive.

"I have the opinion that every supporter who pays a lot of money to go to the stadiums and watch our game should see the same game time.

"They want to see a football event and they don't want to see maybe 50 minutes the ball is in the game and 40 minutes the game is not running."

The game's lawmaking body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) will give referees the power to introduce a five-second countdown for throw-ins and dead-ball goal-kicks where they think a player is taking too long over the restart.

However, there are currently no such plans to give referees the power to speed up a corner kick.

IFAB director Ian Maxwell was asked about the grappling and holding that occurs at corners at a press conference following the organisation's annual general meeting last Saturday, but said it was not something which had been specifically discussed.