Mikel Arteta praises secret weapon who had ‘huge impact’ in Arsenal win v Palace

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Mikel Arteta has heaped praise on one member of the Arsenal coaching staff for his influence on the club’s 5-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Arsenal finally got back to winning ways with a 5-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Having struggled so much to find the back of the net in recent weeks, Mikel Arteta will have been delighted to see his side scoring with such regularity against the Eagles.

The Gunners broke the deadlock with just 11 minutes on the clock, when Gabriel Magalhaes rose highest in the box to meet a corner with his head.

Later in the first half, the Brazilian centre-back was on hand to apply the final Arsenal touch to another corner routine. This time, his header at the far post was diverted into his own net by Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson, and was officially denoted as an own goal.

The fact remains, though, that Gabriel was able to make the most of two opportunities that came his way from set-piece situations.

It was massively important for Arsenal to get all three points from this fixture. As stated by journalist Charles Watts, the north London club were on the verge of a full-blown crisis. Failure to win against the south London side would have sent the fanbase into a justified panic. 

Mikel Arteta credits one Arsenal staff member 

Whilst, in the second half, the Gunners were able to score three superb goals from open play, and the team looked to be full of confidence, it was the two goals from corners in the opening period that set the team on that path.

Arteta recognises this, and has taken some time to ensure that credit goes where credit is due. As quoted by the club’s official website, the Spanish coach said after the match, “credit to all the coaches, to Nico [Jover, set-piece coach] for the amount of time and belief we put in. It’s got a huge impact – we’ve seen that as well in recent games that we’ve lost when we’ve conceded set-pieces, so the outcome is very different when you don’t concede and score.”

“We wanted to start the second part of the season with a great performance, with a great result, and build that positivity and momentum again, and I think the boys did a good job today.”

The Arsenal first-team squad recently enjoyed a mid-season training camp in Dubai. It wouldn’t be surprising if a massive amount of work on set-pieces was done during that time. In both an attacking and defensive sense, the Gunners were excellent against Crystal Palace in that regard.

Over the course of the campaign so far, Arsenal have generated 19 goals from set-piece situations, more than any other top flight side. This is largely down to the work of set-piece coach Nicolas Jover. It is a secret weapon at their disposal of immense importance. If they can get back to posing a threat from corners and free-kicks on a regular basis then it will certainly help the Gunners to maintain their clinical edge, which finally returned to them in this win over Crystal Palace.