This is where we need to distinguish things though. For a start, 'dark arts' as a description is subjective. We apparently play for set pieces, how does free kicks awarded or corners won compare to our peers? The charts are showing data that is 1 or 2 sec difference, when you count that in your head, is that a massive difference really?
Dark arts is the likes of Saka hitting the deck whenever anyone breathes on him. You taking an age over every free kick. Then looking to block multiple players from free kicks. With Ben White given the role of obstructing the keeper. Getting mysterious head injuries when under pressure. Head injuries so concerning that your entire team has to get into a huddle with Arteta on the touch line to console each other.
The bit you seem to be missing is that it is usually the underdog who looks to time waste to try and shorten the game. You are a supposedly top team that looks to do it at almost every opportunity. It is about reducing the game into small manageable chunks that Arteta and Jover can micro-manage.
You supply an article that talks about Ben White time wasting, whereas the same article talks about Zinchenko not, so does this suggest it's coached or player dependent?
I would say that it is about the formative years of a players career. Zinchenko played for years under Ped whose teams look to restart the game as quickly as possible to try and extend games. White has been coached by Lego head to be incredibly cynical.
Then you mention that we rely on dark arts. I think we can do both sides of the game to be honest. I actually like that we seem adept at all facets of the game, that we can play nice football, that we can mix it up if we need to, that we are a threat on set pieces while at the same time being good at defending them. I've too often seen us being weak, in defending set pieces, in being physically bullied, in being naïve when playing the likes of Chelsea in the past.
I think it is pretty poor trying to excuse becoming a bully just because you were previously bullied by Chelsea. What Arsenal now do from set pieces is downright cheating. It isn't American Football where the objective is to block the opposition's keeper and centre-backs. It is just deeply cynical gamesmanship and why I compare Arsenal under Arteta to Chelsea under Mourinho.
Arsenal used to be a class club who played the game the right way. Not a cynical win at all costs team that pushes the boundaries of fair play in every game. We have lost one of the good guys in Klopp who demanded his players play the game in the right way. Will the game be worth watching if it becomes a battle of City cheating off the pitch versus Arsenal cheating on the pitch.
Liverpool v City games between Klopp and Ped have become legendary affairs. With both teams looking to attack each other at every opportunity. Compare that to Arsenal's performance at the Etihad in which you took every opportunity to kill the game stone dead.
