Arsenal star Leandro Trossard has hailed set-piece coach Nicolas Jover for being the club’s secret weapon ahead of the Gunners facing RC Lens in the Champions League.
Jover has already made the headlines this term after being in a furious spat with Kyle Walker after Arsenal beat Manchester City 1-0 in October. Gabriel Martinelli’s deflected effort gifted the Gunners a rare top-flight win against their Premier League title rivals in the 86th minute.
Walker took issue with Jover despite once being colleagues at Etihad Stadium. The full-back started a heated clash with the Arsenal coach as he headed back to the dressing room after full-time. He did not like that Jover proposed a handshake after ignoring Walker’s in the past.
Trossard hails Arsenal’s secret weapon Jover ahead of hosting Lens
While Jover ignited the wrath of Walker and Erling Haaland in October, what the Berlin-born coach gives Arsenal thrills Trossard. The Belgian has now voiced his praise for the set-piece expert ahead of RC Lens visiting Emirates Stadium in the Champions League on Wednesday.
“It’s a pleasure to work with him,” Trossard said, via quotes by the Mirror. “He’s really clever on set-pieces. It’s such a great aspect in the game where you can open up a game.
“It [has] helped us already a lot. We need to keep improving but we train on it as much as possible. When you play every three days, there’s not much time to work on it but we will always squeeze it in. But it’s in the general game plan.”
The north London club poached Jover from Manchester City during July 2021 to improve the Arsenal coaching staff under Mikel Arteta. He had spent two years working for Pep Guardiola at Etihad Stadium. The Frenchman has since put the Gunners among the best at set-pieces.
Jover has turned Arsenal into one of the best teams at set-pieces
Per WhoScored, no Premier League side has scored more goals from set-pieces this term so far than Arsenal with eight. Manchester City are the next-best unit with seven goals ahead of Everton with six. Jover’s vision also saw the Gunners rank in fourth last season with 15 goals.
Liverpool led the table last term with 17 goals from set-pieces, ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford with 16. While at Arsenal, Gabriel Magalhaes scored the most goals from set-pieces with three. Eddie Nketiah tops the Gunners’ chart so far this season with two to date.
Arsenal further ranked third for Premier League goals from set-pieces in Jover’s first term at Emirates Stadium in 2021/22. They scored 16 times that season at dead ball situations after only finding the back of the net six times – the 17th-best record – without Jover in 2020/21.
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