At Tottenham on Sunday, as so often this season, it was the Gunners’ innovation at set-pieces that made the crucial difference.
Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover was deservedly at the forefront of touchline celebrations as Arsenal scored twice from corners.
They required a needed a helping hand for the first, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg heading past his own goalkeeper, the second was clearly off the training ground as Kai Havertz nodded home.
Jover joined Mikel Arteta in leading Arsenal’s celebrations after both, a rightful appreciation of his role in transforming the team’s effectiveness from such situations.
They have scored more goals from set-pieces than any other Premier League side this season and the Havertz goal was their 16th from a header, equalling their Premier League record for a season.
No wonder Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville said: ‘It’s been the same Arsenal set-up all year and it’s been good all year.
‘He’s a little nuisance that set-piece coach, but he’s damn good!’
Jover, 42, has definitely become Arteta’s secret weapon this season as they dare to dream of ending their long wait for title success.
He made the headlines back in October when Manchester City’s Kyle Walker appeared to snub a handshake from Jover after Arsenal beat them at the Emirates.
There is history there because Jover worked in the same role for Pep Guardiola at City between 2019 and 2021, before linking up again with Arteta at Arsenal.
Now both are going up against their old employer in a gripping title race.
Berlin-born Jover began his career as a video analyst at French club Montpellier and briefly served in a similar role for the Croatia national team.
He came to England in July 2016 to work as an assistant coach to Dean Smith at Brentford and continued under Thomas Frank when the Bees were in the Championship.
His talents were recognised by Guardiola and in 2019, Jover joined City’s coaching staff to work on set-pieces.
While at the Etihad, Jover worked in his first few months with Mikel Arteta, Guardiola’s No 2, before he left to take the Arsenal job.
Arteta persuaded Jover to take a similar role at Arsenal in July 2021 after previous set-piece coach Andreas Georgson returned to Malmo as sporting director.
Jover established a reputation for set-piece innovation – during his two years with City, the club created 104 chances from set plays in Premier League action, leading to 16 goals.
He also improved City’s record of defending opposition set-pieces, helping them reduce the percentage of goals conceded from such situation from 39 per cent in 2018-19 to just 20 per cent the following season and 19 per cent the season after.
Arsenal’s set-piece effectiveness showed a similar improvement once Jover was installed at the club.
Now, in a title race of fine margins, it could mean the difference between Arsenal winning the league and City making it four-in-a-row.
Arteta was fully aware of the difference Jover could make. After poaching him from City, he said: ‘I believed we needed somebody who specialised in that.
‘I met him, we started to discuss how we could apply set-pieces to the open play, which is also connected, they’re not two separate things, it’s all connected in the game, and how we could maximise that.
‘I knew Nico from before, and I asked him to come and join our project, and he’s having a really strong impact on the team.’
That was evident yet again on Sunday.
- | The secrets of Arsenal’s set-piece success: How Nicolas Jover change the game.
It was that ‘little nuisance’, as ascribed by Gary Neville, who again jumped and jumped on the touchline in glee.
Nicolas Jover had helped architect another significant Arsenal victory in the title race via their trusted weapon — set-pieces.
The pathway to three points in a tense north London derby against rivals Tottenham was unlocked on 15 minutes, Bukayo Saka’s corner-kick swung into the near post area with Takehiro Tomiyasu ready to head it goalward.
The expectation for the cross to land in the mix caused Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to panic. He headed the ball into his own net.
The cameras subsequently panned to the technical area and it was Arsenal’s set-piece mastermind Jover who landed in the arms of Mikel Arteta.
Neville quipped on commentary: ‘There he is again. The set-piece guru. He’s a little nuisance that set-piece coach, but he’s damn good.’
He is proving damn good, and his array of set-piece tricks and ploys are certainly working. In the Premier League this season, Arsenal have scored the most set-piece goals excluding penalties (22), the most goals via corners (16) and conceded the second-fewest number of set-pieces excluding penalties (six).
It’s the latter statistic which is just as crucial as the scoring itself. As Spurs rained down crosses and corner-kicks into the box in those frantic final 10 minutes, the 42-year-old was crouched, orchestrating the Gunners’ defensive strategy while Arteta was out of view. Scoring is good, but not without defensively solidity at the other end.
It has not gone unnoticed throughout the campaign that when Arsenal have a set-piece, the ever-active Arteta takes a step back in the technical area and Jover takes his space, issuing instructions.
The relationship between the pair goes back much further than training ground routines and working together at the north London club.
Arteta noticed the German-born Frenchman’s work at Brentford, where Jover transformed the club’s approach to set-pieces between July 2016 and 2018.
In that period as assistant coach to Dean Smith, before briefly working under current boss Thomas Frank, the Bees were, as they are now, fixated on forward thinking for those marginal gains.
In terms of Jover, there was an immediate difference as he was given the licence and time to instil his methods on the team. His next move is where the ambitious coach first made his mark to a mainstream audience.
He was introduced to Manchester City by Arteta, then their assistant coach, who had taken notice of Jover’s work at Brentford.
The pair, who both speak English, French and Spanish, had hit it off immediately when they met after the Spaniard reached out to Jover.
At the end of his contract in 2021, Jover joined Arteta at Arsenal — and the rest writes itself. A reunion of a pair who share many similarities.
He mirrors Arteta in intensity and focus, and has the respect of the players. That passion could be seen in his confrontation with Man City’s Kyle Walker after Arsenal beat the club 1-0, the men getting involved in a heated exchange.
Both have a relentless work ethic and an obsession for detail. Jover likes to keep sessions short, less than 30 minutes, to ensure he has the team’s full attention.
Jover is given multiple sessions during the week to drill his various methods. It was he who convinced the Gunners boss to put Declan Rice on delivering corner-kicks during the Dubai winter camp.
In a practical sense, there is intricate detail to the success via a variety of corner-kick methods and antics this season.
For Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Tottenham, the Hojbjerg own-goal was precipitated by Ben White’s actions in the area.
He targeted Guglielmo Vicario by trying to take the goalkeeper’s gloves off. Vicario shook him off, but was clearly irritated. His mind had been rattled before the ball even reached the box.
And then for Arsenal’s second set-piece goal, by way of Kai Havertz, White had backed into Vicario on the goal-line, leaving the keeper stuck in one spot.
Jover is a winner, like Arteta, so it’s not the first time such crafty tactics have been seen around the opposition area when the Gunners are about to take a set-piece. Winning at all costs.
Take Arsenal’s second goal in the 5-0 thrashing of Chelsea last Tuesday.
Saka was waiting to take the corner-kick. In the box, William Saliba had Enzo Fernandez pinned in the centre of the area while White was busy wrestling Marc Cucurella.
Once the ball broke loose, White shrugged Cucurella away to find himself in space and Saliba’s blocking of Enzo forced the Chelsea man to keep the opposition on side. White duly finished into the net.
Further to the use of NFL-style blocking, a number of instances spring up from earlier in the campaign.
Declan Rice’s late goal against Manchester United in September started with four of Arsenal’s players outnumbering the two opposition player on the back post. Once the ball reached Rice, Gabriel was already blocking Jonny Evans’ path to getting to Rice’s shot.
And then when facing Crystal Palace in January, Arsenal’s repeated tactical crowding of certain areas allowed Gabriel to plough in with two headed goals.
For most corners, it is Martin Odegaard who stands on the edge of the box. A possible orchestrator in chief.
As spotted during Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Crystal Palace in January, Odegaard appeared to play with his socks as a gesture as to whether the corner would be to the near or back post.
When Mail Sport asked Arteta about the ploy in the days after, he grinned and said: ‘I am not going to tell you that!’
It has been drilled so well into the players that it is almost second nature to create a sense of chaos in the box which is one of Jover’s aims.
Under Arteta, Arsenal have rocked up to opposition grounds with their own banners and posters to give the away dressing room a more familiar feel.
A banner on the wall for Sunday’s game was rather telling. It read ‘BASICS’. An acronym for Boxes, Attack, Shape, Intensity, Compete — and Set-pieces.
It’s an example of how serious Mikel takes set-pieces, and the responsibility he has given to Jover.
A similarly serious approach to the craft has been taken up by many clubs across the league, but some still don’t have a specialist coach on this area. Spurs are one.
When asked about his team’s difficulties in dealing with this art on Sunday, Ange Postecoglou replied: ‘If I thought fixing defensive set-pieces was the answer to us bridging the gap then I would put all of my time and effort into that. But that is not where we’re at.’
The success and goals Arsenal have borne under the tutelage of Jover may force Ange and others to swiftly change tack.
