Nicolas Jover: Arsenal’s set-piece ‘genius’ has transformed Premier League title challengers’ threat from free-kicks and corners
Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover has helped turn Arsenal into Premier League’s best attackers from dead-ball situations this season; Frenchman previously worked with Mikel Arteta at Man City; here we explain how the corner-kick and free-kick expert is giving the Gunners an edge…
Image: Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover
Nicolas Jover was embraced by Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta as two corner-kick routines helped the Gunners to an important north London derby win at Tottenham on Sunday, which keeps their Premier League title bid on track.
“There he is again. The set-piece guru. He’s a little nuisance, that set-piece coach, but he’s damn good,” Gary Neville said on commentary as Kai Havertz headed Arsenal into a 3-0 lead from a corner.
Goals from dead-ball situations have been key to their push for Premier League glory and the scale of the team’s improvement in this area has been huge since set-piece coach Jover arrived in 2021.
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.
Arsenal have scored 22 goals from set-pieces (not including penalties) this season. That is the most in the league – four more than next-best Everton and six more than title rivals Manchester City. Liverpool are seven behind the Gunners in this department.
In the season before Jover arrived at the club, Arsenal scored just six times from set-pieces.
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Defensively, they have conceded just six times from set-pieces, with only Man City (two) having a better record in those moments.
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As well as the meticulous routines Jover goes through with the players and the high-quality deliveries Arsenal’s set-piece takers produce, observers have also noticed some cunning play from Arsenal during attacking set-pieces.
Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz highlighted in February how blocking opposition markers allows Arsenal players to find space to score.
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Ron Walker is joined by Sam Blitz to discuss what makes Arsenal so good at set-pieces, with Mikel Arteta’s side leading the way in the Premier League this season.
Ben White made headlines after that derby with Spurs after cheekily trying to undo the gloves of Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario before one of the corner-kick goals – and then bumping him as the cross came in for the other.
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The Ref Watch panel discuss whether Ben White was fortunate to escape without punishment following several incidents involving Guglielmo Vicario.
But when all those aspects come together, Jover’s impact is clearly a substantial one – particularly in attacking areas.
To put all these numbers in context, just 11 per cent of Arsenal’s goals came from set-piece situations in the season before Jover arrived at the club. That figure immediately jumped to 26 per cent in his first campaign and is up at those levels again this term.
Sky Sports’ Nick Wright took a closer look at Jover’s career path and methods during his first season at Arsenal…
How Jover’s work with Arteta at Man City convinced the Arsenal boss to bring him to north London
Sky Sports’ Nick Wright:
Jover is an unfamiliar name to many, but he was known to Arteta, having spent the previous two seasons working under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. He joined Arsenal in July 2021 to replace outgoing set-piece coach Andreas Georgson, who had accepted an offer to return to his former club Malmo after a single season in north London.
Arteta described Jover as “someone whose expertise can be incredibly useful and valuable for us” soon after his appointment. “It’s a crucial part of the game nowadays,” he added. “It’s something you have to dominate and master and we are in that process.”
The Arsenal manager had seen first-hand how Jover improved Manchester City from dead-ball situations both offensively and defensively during his time as Guardiola’s assistant.
Image: Arsenal's set-piece coach Nicolas Jover (left) celebrates with Mikel Arteta (centre) after the Gunners' opening goal in the north London derby comes from a corner
In Jover’s first season at the Etihad Stadium, they scored more set-piece goals than any other Premier League side and conceded the second-fewest. In his second, the numbers were similarly impressive as he helped them reclaim the Premier League title.
At Arsenal, meanwhile, Georgson’s impact had been mixed.
The Swede built strong foundations defensively – in fact no Premier League side conceded fewer set-piece goals than the Gunners in 2020/21 – but he left considerable room for improvement offensively.
His replacement has brought a fresh perspective and he has a wealth of experience behind him too.
Image: Arsenal's set-piece coach Nicolas Jover (right) celebrates another corner-kick goal with Gunners boss Mikel Arteta
Jover, started out as an analyst at Montpellier, where he helped the French outfit claim their first Ligue 1 title in 2011/12, and went on to have spells as a set-piece specialist with the Croatian national team and Brentford before his move to Manchester City.
At Brentford, he came to know Mads Buttgereit, another set-piece coach who was working for their Danish sister club Midtjylland at the time.
“Nicolas is a genius in the way he thinks and the way he creates the plans,” Buttgereit, who went on to work with the German national team, told Sky Sports.
“Sitting with him and discussing different set-plays, you feel everything has an exact thought behind it. There are no coincidences at any point in any routine.
“Whenever we discussed set-pieces, it was never simple. We could discuss a specific corner routine for over an hour, not a problem. We would go through every aspect and go through what the opponent would then do. It was very, very detailed.
“There are a few set-piece coaches who I know personally but, in my mind, I think Nicolas is the best. He is fantastic.”
Nick Wright’s feature was originally published in November 2021
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