How Nicolas Jover has made Arsenal the kings of set-pieces

Alex Keble takes a look at how Arsenal' have become the kings of set-pieces since the arrival of specialist coach Nicolas Jover.

Every time there’s a set-piece near the penalty area, there he is: prowling the touchline; running the show as Mikel Arteta fades into the background.

Arsenal scored twice from corners in their 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday and it was after Kai Havertz made it 3-0 that Gary Neville drew attention to a set-piece coach whose fame – until then limited to Arsenal supporters - was about to go mainstream.

Havertz's goal v Spurs

“There he is again, the set-piece guru,” Neville said of Nicolas Jover. “He's a little nuisance, that set-piece coach, but he's damn good.”

He certainly is – and not just at organising attacking set-pieces. When Arsenal were clinging on to their lead deep into stoppage time against Spurs and a flurry of corners were awarded to the home side, an animated Arteta turned to his bench, invited Jover forward and slapped him on the back as if to say: “You’ve got this.”

In the dying seconds he ceded control to his set-piece coach.

It spoke volumes about the trust Arteta has in Jover; a trust his specialist has earned.

Jover was poached from Man City after a superb spell

Jover’s influence at Arsenal was predictable enough given his impact as the set-piece coach at Manchester City between 2019 and 2021.

In 2019/20, his first season, he managed to reduce Man City’s percentage of goals conceded from dead-balls from 39 per cent the previous season to 20 per cent.

The following season, it was down to 16 per cent and of course this is reflected in the raw number of goals conceded, too, as the table below shows.

His impact was just as big going forward. Man City topped the Premier League charts for goals from set-pieces in 2019/20 and ranked fourth in 2020/21.

Man City set-piece stats before/with Jover

*pre-Jover

Arteta worked with Jover for only six months before he took the Arsenal job, but clearly Jover made an impression on him.

He was poached, and Arsenal went to the next level.

Jover impact most noted at corners

After signing Jover, Arteta said: “I believed we needed somebody who specialised in that [set-pieces].

“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 much is undeniable, and nowhere is his influence more pronounced than Arsenal’s goalscoring from corners, which are off the charts since Jover’s arrival.

As reported by Opta’s David Wall, Arsenal have scored more corner goals over the last three seasons than anyone in Europe’s top five leagues: 42 in 111 matches.

In the 111 matches preceding Jover’s arrival, Arsenal scored a goal every 32 corners, which hits the league average of around 3 per cent, whereas in the 111 fixtures since, they have found the net every 16 corners. That’s twice as effective.

It’s no surprise, then, that Arsenal have now equalled the Premier League record for most goals from corners.

Most goals scored from corners in a PL season

*Arsenal have three fixtures remaining

Jover’s impact on set-pieces at both ends is world-beating. In 2020/21, the season before Jover arrived, Arsenal scored just six set-piece goals.

This year they are on 22, at least four more than any other club in the competition and a 266 per cent increase on 2020/21.

As a percentage of their total goals, in the year before his arrival 11 per cent of their goals were scored from set-pieces. Over his first year, that jumped to 26 per cent.

Defensively, the improvement hasn’t quite been as marked, although that is largely because of Arsenal’s over-performance defending set-pieces the year before he arrived.

The table below shows that Arsenal conceded just five set-piece goals in 2020/21 (before Jover) from an xG against of 7.42, but this appears to be an anomaly: the year before, 2019/20, Arsenal conceded 15 set-piece goals (= third worst).

With that context, their defensive record over the last three years is impressive.

Arsenal set-piece stats before/with Jover

*pre-Jover

Modern importance of set-piece coach

When Jover was first signed, Arteta said he was “someone whose expertise can be incredibly useful and valuable for us” because set-pieces are “a crucial part of the game nowadays”.

Three years on, Arsenal’s set-piece goals – not least the match-winning impact at Spurs - has proven just how important a specialist has become in the modern game.

The role is increasingly prevalent, which perhaps explains the uptick in corner goals in the Premier League, as The Athletic’s Ahmed Walid has shown.

We are up to 4.2 goals per 100 corners. Even in a crowded field, Jover is on top.

“It's a pleasure to work with him,” Leandro Trossard (below) said back in November. “He's really clever on set-pieces.

"It's such a great aspect in the game where you can open up a game. It helped us already a lot.”

But such demanding work, and the constant running of set-piece routines, isn’t a pleasure for everyone.

“We do a lot of work on set-pieces. It's the worst, it's the worst!” Bukayo Saka joked in January.

“Nico, our set-piece coach, does a really good job though,” he added. “What he's doing is clearly working so we'll have to continue doing it.”

That they are still effective three years in is a testament to Jover’s ability to shake things up, keeping the routines fresh.

The variety in their deliveries is telling.

All Arsenal need is for Jover’s tricks to keep working for three more matches.

Arsenal’s remaining fixtures are against: AFC Bournemouth, who have kept back-to-back clean sheets, Manchester United, who have conceded the most xG (15.26) and shots (185) from set-pieces this season, and Everton, who have the league’s highest set-piece xG (17.02).

Having the best set-piece specialist in the business might be the difference-maker.

One way or another, dead-balls will define Arsenal’s title challenge.