Corners, Gabriel and Jover: Arsenal’s game-changing set-piece routines

In the final 10 minutes of the Arsenal vs Leicester City Premier League game over the weekend, when the home side got a flurry of corner kicks, one couldn’t help but think the Gunners would finally make one count. 

Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori had come close before. And right on cue, in the fourth minute of added time, Leandro Trossard, unmarked at the back post, fired a volley into the goalmouth area, where Wilfred Ndidi inadvertently turned the ball into his own net to give Arsenal the go-ahead goal at 2-2. Arsenal went on to win 4-2.

The Ndidi own goal came from Arsenal’s 17th corner from the game — its second-most in Premier League history. 

This was Arsenal’s third straight game, where it had scored from a corner kick including against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. The three goals were go-ahead goals (Manchester City later equalised), giving Arsenal the edge in the contest. Arsenal’s success from its corner routines is becoming closer to what is the equivalent of field hockey’s penalty corners.

The improvement in Arsenal’s set-piece tactics is down to the appointment of a specialist set-piece coach, Nicolas Jover, who joined from Manchester City. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta brought Jover to City in 2019, when the Spaniard was Pep Guardiola’s right-hand man. Jover, then, followed Arteta to the north London club in 2021.

Since 2021, Arsenal has been the most successful attacking set-piece team in the Premier League with 45 goals. Last season, the Gunners scored 16 – a joint-Premier League record – of their 91 goals in the league from corner kicks. They have scored 30 goals from corners in the last two completed seasons.

After the win over Spurs, Arteta claimed that Jover was the best in the business. “In his field, in other fields and as a person. And the relationship that we have – that’s why I made the decision to bring him to City when I was there and then to Arsenal.

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“Him and the rest of the staff have injected the belief to the players that there are many ways to win football matches. This is a really powerful one and he has given us a lot. So a big compliment to all of them,” said Arteta.

During the Arsene Wenger years, Arsenal was often accused of being a ‘soft team’ because it recruited technically gifted players, who struggled in aerial duels. But Arteta has brought in players who can impose themselves physically, while still being nifty with their feet. 

The 2023-24 team’s average height was 182 cm with towering figures like Kai Havertz, Declan Rice, Gabriel, William Saliba, Ben White and Thomas Partey. Calafiori was added to the mix this season.

Bukayo Saka and Rice’s delivery from corners and the height inside the box have given Arsenal an integral source in scoring goals. Arsenal relies on inswinging corners into the six-yard box inviting its runners to attack causing trouble for opposition defenders to cope with.

Since the 2021 season, Arsenal has played the most inswinging corners (559), nearly 150 more than the next-best team in the league. In the game against Leicester, all of Arsenal’s 17 corners were inswinging deliveries where they repeatedly targeted the back post.

Center-back Gabriel has been the key attacking threat from corners. The Brazilian, who scored against Spurs and City, has scored nine goals from corners since 2020-21.

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Gabriel usually takes up a position near the penalty spot, while the other attackers aim to crowd out the space in front of the goalkeeper, halting them from coming out to catch or punch out the inswinging corners into the six-yard area. Gabriel then has the task of losing his marker and attacking the ball, which has served him well so far.

Former Aston Villa and Stoke City ‘keeper Thomas Sorensen said Arsenal’s bullish tactic in the box is deliberate. “What they do well is they obviously try to eliminate the keeper by not going in and tangling with him before the kick, but they actually just before the kick gets into position,” he told the  Optus Sport Football Podcast.

And Arsenal also switches up its set-piece attacking focal point in-game. In the game against Leicester, the last three corners from Saka’s side were delivered deeper at the far post area, where Arsenal overloaded bodies to pull in the away side’s zonal markers. Calafiori and Trossard both had free shots on goal, where the latter’s final effort was turned into the net.

Former players and pundits have questioned Arsenal’s goal-scoring abilities due to a lack of recognised strikers in the ranks. But Arsenal showed last season it can score plenty with its 91 goals. However, with skipper and chief creator Martin Odegaard missing due to injury, Arteta’s Arsenal will come to rely on corner kicks to get the job done.