It’s funny how circumstances make us meet the right people at the right time.
One day, Mikel Arteta, then Manchester City’s assistant manager, wanted to increase his side’s threat from set pieces entering the 2019-20 season. A friend connected him with a certain Nicolas Jover, who became City’s set-piece coach before joining Arteta at Arsenal in the summer of 2021.
In the previous season, Arsenal only scored three times from corner kicks in the Premier League — their lowest tally in a full season since Opta started collecting this data in 2007-08 — as Arteta’s side finished in eighth place.
Jover’s arrival before the start of the 2021-22 season increased Arsenal’s threat from set pieces, scoring 13 times from corners in the Premier League in the Frenchman’s first season with the club, before equalling that number again last season — making 13 goals from corners the most Arsenal have scored in a single Premier League season since Opta started collecting this data.
To correctly measure the significance of Jover’s impact and Arsenal’s focus on set pieces, we need to look at the rate of goals per 100 corners taken in each season — looking at the per-corner stats allows us to level the playing field when comparing across seasons, as one given year might have more corners than another.
The last two seasons saw Arsenal’s rate of goals per 100 corners jump to a new level. The 6.3 in 2021-22 and 5.8 in 2022-23 are their highest rates since 2017-18 (4.4).
One of the 13 goals scored from corners in the Premier League last season came in Arsenal’s 3-2 win against Manchester United at the Emirates. This season, Arsenal’s threat was once again vital in their win against Erik ten Hag’s side.
With Arsenal mixing their routines between short and long, it was clear that targeting United’s far post was one of their main ideas. On multiple corners, Arsenal’s attacking setup was tilted towards the far post with only William Saliba (red) positioned away from the pack. The main protagonist of this routine was Declan Rice (yellow).
United’s defensive setup consisted of four zonal players towards the near post, one player to defend the short option in Antony (United No 21), Christian Eriksen marking the centre space zonally, three man-markers (in white) in Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Anthony Martial and Lisandro Martinez, and Diogo Dalot towards the far post.
The players that Wan-Bissaka, Martial and Martinez were man-marking were Saliba, Kai Havertz and Gabriel — and Arsenal used this factor in their routine.
With multiple players starting from the far post, Arsenal’s idea was to use decoy runners towards the near post as Rice maintained his position. The England midfielder made sure to position himself towards the edge of the six-yard box, keeping a distance between himself and Dalot.
Meanwhile, Arsenal’s fake runners (red) gave the assumption that Arteta’s side were targeting the near post, with Havertz and Gabriel’s movement dragging their markers with them.
In this example, Gabriel Martinelli’s cross isn’t played towards the correct zone towards the far post, and it is cleared by Andre Onana.
Four minutes later, Arsenal execute the same routine. United’s setup is the same with zonal players towards the near post and three players man-marking Saliba, Havertz and Gabriel.
Ben White, Eddie Nketiah, Rice, Havertz and Gabriel are initially positioned towards the far post as Bukayo Saka is preparing to take the corner…
… and the key movement once again comes from Havertz and Gabriel (red), who make their decoy run towards the near post to drag Martial and Martinez with them, vacating space for Rice towards the far post in the process. It’s important to note that Rice’s initial positioning outside of the six-yard box keeps him away from Dalot…
… and allows him a free run at the ball when the cross comes in. Here, Rice’s header goes over the bar, but Arsenal’s routine allowed them to find one of their best players in this phase of the game.
Here’s another example. Again, United are man-marking Havertz, Gabriel and Saliba (white) using exactly the same defensive setup, but this time Eriksen (black) is keeping an eye on Rice.
As the corner is being played, Gabriel and Havertz are the decoys at the near post to drag Martial and Martinez with them and free the far post, but the issue for Arsenal is that Eriksen (black) keeps his position. Rice spots that, and changes his role to a blocker as he knows Nketiah is behind him. The England midfielder moves towards Eriksen…
… and obstructs the Danish midfielder to make sure Nketiah receives the ball comfortably…
… but the centre-forward’s first touch forces him into a backpass to Saka towards the edge of the penalty box.
In a game in which Arsenal’s attack in open play wasn’t at their most fluid, it was corners that gave them an edge. In the second half, Martinelli came close to scoring from a short-corner routine, but it was in-swingers towards Rice at the far post that gave them the lead.
Arsenal’s second goal in the game followed the same pattern: initially positioning multiple players towards the far post, before decoy runners vacated this space for Rice who kept his position towards the edge of the six-yard area.
Here, United are maintaining their defensive setup despite changing the players. There are four zonal markers towards the near post, Alejandro Garnacho (No 17) defending the short corner, Eriksen marking the central space, three man-markers (white) and Dalot (No 20) defending the far post.
As for Arsenal, it’s the same drill but using different players. Gabriel Jesus replaces Nketiah, and Takehiro Tomiyasu takes Havertz’s role as Gabriel and Rice maintain theirs.
Once Saka starts his run, Tomiyasu makes a movement towards the near post as Gabriel and Jesus move away from the far post to vacate this space for Rice. Saka targets the right zone: towards the far post and away from Dalot…
… and Rice moves to the perfect spot by the edge of the six-yard area.
Before the midfielder receives Saka’s cross, the roles of Tomiyasu, Jesus and Gabriel are clear: Tomiyasu’s run moves Rashford (white) away from the far-post zone, Jesus’s run gives the assumption that Arsenal might target the central area, and Gabriel’s block on Jonny Evans allows Rice to receive Saka’s cross under no pressure…
… and the midfielder completes the routine by making it 2-1, with his shot deflecting off Evans.
“You know what, it was one of them things; we were knocking on the door with the corners,” said Rice after the game. “I had a chance in the first half, I thought we were a constant threat. And the one at the end, obviously I scored.”
Arsenal’s prowess from corners continues, and the addition of Havertz and Rice — two of the best players at attacking corners in the league — will only make them better in this phase of play.
Arteta meeting Jover a couple of years ago was a matter of fate, but Rice meeting the ball towards the far post was not.
