Arsenal are bossing it from set pieces this season (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal are the Premier League’s set piece kings this season with a staggering 19 goals from dead-ball situations.
The likes of Gabriel and William Saliba have been a menace in opposition boxes throughout the campaign, with The Gunners’ tally currently five more than second-placed Everton.
And the man behind Arsenal’s set piece dominance is Nicolas Jover, the secret weapon Mikel Arteta will be hoping can help guide the club to their first Premier League title since 2004.
So, who exactly is Arsenal’s set-piece guru?
Who is Arsenal’s set piece coach Nicolas Jover?
Jover has been Arsenal’s set piece coach since Arteta raided his former club Manchester City in the summer of 2021.
The 42 year-old Frenchman joined City in July 2019, spending six months working alongside Arteta at the Etihad before Arsenal swooped for the Spaniard in the December of that year.
Jover has made a stunning impact at Arsenal (Picture: Getty)
Speaking on the decision to bring Jover to the Emirates, Arteta said at the time: ‘After looking through what the best solution would be, a person that I know was on the market was available.
‘He is someone whose expertise are incredibly useful and valuable for us. He’s joining us. His name is Nicolas Jover and I’ve worked with him before at City.’
Jover had an instant impact in north London with the club going from being the third lowest set piece scorers in the Premier League in 2020/21 to the side with the most goals from dead-ball situations in the first three months of the following season.
Before joining Manchester City, Jover worked at Brentford under Dean Smith between 2016 and 2019, having previously worked at Montpellier as a video analyst from 2009 until 2016.
Jover also had a very brief spell as a match analysis for Croatia in 2013.
Ahead of the 2018 World Cup, Gareth Southgate dispatched one of his assistants to Brentford’s training ground to study the set piece tactics deployed by the Bees, which Jover had honed during his time at Université de Sherbrooke – which in part were inspired by American football.
Arteta headhunted Jover from Manchester City (Picture: Getty)
The move from Southgate clearly paid off, with the so-called ‘love train’ tactics helping England reach the last four in Russia.
Jover has even spoken about his wish to establish a distinct style of play from set pieces that will be associated directly with him.
‘I dream of developing a recognisable style of set pieces, just like a playing style,’ Jover told Christoph Biermann in his book Football Hackers: The Science and Art of a Data Revolution.
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