Arsenal relied on their set-piece brilliance to help them seal an important 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
The Gunners scored twice from corners, the first goal forcing an own goal from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg before Kai Havertz scored another.
However, the magician behind Arsenal’s fantastic set-piece work is not Mikel Arteta – but his assistant coach Nicolas Jover.
Arsenal have scored 16 goals from set-pieces in the Premier League this season. That is actually the most by any team since the 2016/17 season, when Tony Pulis’ West Brom side reached new heights with set-piece goals. All of this is because of Jover’s influence.
Jover, a German-born football coach, initially worked as a video analyst for Ligue 1 side Montpellier from 2009-2016 and was part of their set-up when they won the league title in the 2011/12 season.
He moved to England in 2016 as an assistant coach for Dean Smith at Brentford, before becoming a part of Thomas Frank’s set-up and worked for them for three years.
In 2019, it was actually Mikel Arteta who recognized Jover’s brilliant work as an assistant coach, and especially in organizing set-pieces, as he urged Pep Guardiola to bring him in at Manchester City.
Jover would go onto work as Man City’s set-piece coach for two years before he stayed loyal to Arteta and moved to Arsenal with him in 2021.
He has since revolutionized the Gunners’ set-piece routine, using unique innovations and tactics to torment opposition teams and score so many goals from corners or free-kicks. The Gunners have also rarely conceded goals from set-pieces, proving how good Jover’s organization really is in these scenarios.
The 42-year-old earned praise from Gary Neville during the Spurs match, as he noted on commentary: “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!”
