David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty ImagesArsene Wenger has altered Arsenal's offensive tactics this season by playing more out wide.

In recent seasons, Arsenal have often been criticised for not having a plan B. Teams shut Arsenal off by camping on the edge of their own box, giving Arsenal no space to slip passes through the defence. The ball then gets played out wide, before coming back to the edge of the box, and it feels like the team are going nowhere.

Although the stats don't suggest that there has been a massive increase in the number of crosses that Arsenal are putting into the box this season (average of 24 per game in the league 2011/12, compared to 26 per game this season), it was noticeable on Saturday in the North London derby that the Gunners were more willing to cross the ball, rather than feeling stuck to passing the ball along the floor.

Robin van Persie was good at heading the ball, however he was excellent with his feet, so there seemed to be a greater reluctance for the team to just cross the ball for him. Van Persie was often the only man in the box, so an aimless cross could be wasted on such a talented player.

Olivier Giroud is now leading the line, and his physical presence as the main striker immediately adds the temptation to give the ball some air. As his confidence has grown, he has looked more willing to attack the ball when it's put into the box, meaning that even if a cross isn't accurate, the Frenchman could still make something of the situation.

While there is the ongoing argument about whether Theo Walcott should be playing down the middle, his crossing has undoubtedly improved this season. His judgement has improved as to when to whip a cross in at pace, or to try and pick someone out with a more flighted cross. Both Per Mertesacker and Giroud have benefited from this recently. Although he's had a tendency to dip in and out of games, Lukas Podolski has also shown a few times this season what his left foot can do in wide areas.

Santi Cazorla is also dangerous from the flanks. Against the ten men of Tottenham, Arsenal's front four played with fluidity, with Walcott popping up in the middle next to Giroud, or swapping with Podolski and then having Cazorla appear on the wing. This style of play maintains the aesthetics that Arsene Wenger always aspires to, and can be hard to defend against by attacking the wide areas at pace. There has been a greater emphasis on using the wide areas, with 74% of Arsenal's attacks coming from the flanks in the league this season, compared to 68% last season.

It's not just from open play that Arsenal are looking more dangerous from crosses. Set pieces have long been talked about in relation to how Arsenal defend them, but with improved deliveries, they now represent a real opportunity for goals when attacking. It was often jokingly sung by Arsenal fans that 'we never score from corners'. Without the dangers of Tony Adams and Sol Campbell, it was often hard to see where goals would come from at set-pieces. With Thomas Vermaelen, Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny all playing recently, and Giroud already being in the box at corners, Arsenal have had the personnel to cause problems to the opposition.

When winning free-kicks in the opposition half, the reluctance to put the ball into the box is also lessening in this team. With Wilshere back in the side, Arsenal have good left and right-footed players to deliver balls into the box from free-kicks. Were it not for an excellent Hugo Lloris save on Saturday, Giroud would have scored from such a situation against Spurs.

With the idealised Wenger style of play, just relying on crossing the ball into the box has almost felt like a stigmatised tactic. It was something that teams like Stoke did, and Arsenal wouldn't lower themselves to just sticking it into the box. The Gunners still don’t launch the ball forward so as to bypass the midfield, but they have improved their use of the wide areas to create chances.

It might not be 'pure' or 'total' football, but I don't see variety to Arsenal's attack as a bad thing. It has been lacking at times this season, but was on full display against Tottenham. I don’t want to see Arsenal go to the other end of the spectrum and become reliant on crosses, but it's a useful facet of the game to have developed.

Giroud will undoubtedly be looking to score against his former team, Montpellier, on Wednesday in the Champions League. With his growing confidence, improved movement and Arsenal's options from wide areas, he should get plenty of chances to do so.

Statistics from whoscored.com

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