Arsenal star had huge role in Gabriel goal v Palace without even touching the ball

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Arsenal have been excellent at set-pieces this season, and a 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace saw them score twice from corners.

Gabriel Magalhaes nodded in an excellent opener, and thought he had doubled the lead from another corner in the first half, but his goal was later confirmed as an own goal by goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Arsenal now rank as the best team in the Premier League when it comes to set pieces, and specialist coach Nicolas Jover has been gaining attention for his work on the training ground in helping set the team up for them.

One clever aspect of Arsenal’s set-piece routines has now been spotted in Gabriel’s opening goal against Palace, as Leandro Trossard played a massive role in the goal despite not touching the ball once.

Leandro Trossard played huge role in Gabriel goal vs Palace

Gabriel opened the scoring after making a clever run before completely overpowering Chris Richards in the air with ease to nod in from Declan Rice’s corner.

There was some surprise amongst the fans at the Emirates Stadium when Rice, an aerial threat in himself, went over to take the corner.

Trossard often delivers corners from the left side, but his delivery has been disastrous at times, and fans are no longer keen on seeing him line up to take set pieces.

His contribution on this goal was better than anything he has done from dead-ball situations in months. A clip posted by the Premier League on X has now shown that Trossard made an intelligent run across the face of goal to block the path between Joachim Andersen and Gabriel.

This meant that Trossard’s movement, without physically fouling anyone, was enough to stop Andersen from challenging for the ball in the air, and Gabriel had more space to run into before powering home.

Arsenal’s ingenuity from attacking set-pieces

Frustration was directed towards Trossard earlier this season for his poor deliveries into the box from corners. The 29-year-old struggled to beat the first man to find Gabriel, William Saliba or Rice in the box despite their physical presence.

However, he has had a lot more luck when it comes to clever routines from the training ground. His winner against Everton in September came from a short-corner routine which he finished off in style, and he was clearly instructed to make this run to help Gabriel score against Palace.

Jover’s role has been praised by Mikel Arteta, whilst other intelligent tricks on set-pieces are being employed by the Gunners, with Martin Odegaard recently spotted using them as an opportunity to share tactical instructions and disguise passes.

A mid-season Dubai training camp saw Arsenal specifically work on their dead-ball scenarios, and it is clearly already paying off.