Nicolas Jover: The 'genius' transforms Arsenal's threat from set-piece

Nicolas Jover was embraced by Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta as two corner-kick routines helped the Gunners to an important north London derby win at Tottenham on Sunday, which keeps their Premier League title bid on track.

"There he is again. The set-piece guru. He's a little nuisance, that set-piece coach, but he's damn good," Gary Neville said on commentary as Kai Havertz headed Arsenal into a 3-0 lead from a corner.

Goals from dead-ball situations have been key to their push for Premier League glory and the scale of the team's improvement in this area has been huge since set-piece coach Jover arrived in 2021.

Arsenal have scored 22 goals from set-pieces (not including penalties) this season. That is the most in the league - four more than next-best Everton and six more than title rivals Manchester City. Liverpool are seven behind the Gunners in this department.

In the season before Jover arrived at the club, Arsenal scored just six times from set-pieces.

Defensively, they have conceded just six times from set-pieces, with only Man City (two) having a better record in those moments.

As well as the meticulous routines Jover goes through with the players and the high-quality deliveries Arsenal's set-piece takers produce, observers have also noticed some cunning play from Arsenal during attacking set-pieces.

Sky Sports' Sam Blitz highlighted in February how blocking opposition markers allows Arsenal players to find space to score.

Ben White made headlines after that derby with Spurs after cheekily trying to undo the gloves of Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario before one of the corner-kick goals - and then bumping him as the cross came in for the other.

But when all those aspects come together, Jover's impact is clearly a