Inside Arsenal’s set-piece evolution for new season including Ben White’s ‘demotion’ and Riccardo Calafiori’s impact
ARSENAL’S set-piece prowess looks to be carrying on from last season – with signs of some subtle changes.
The Gunners scored 16 times from corners in the Prem in 2023/24 – the most out of anyone in the division.
GettyWilliam Saliba and Gabriel both scored from corners at the weekend[/caption]
GettyArsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover has found new ways to improve the Gunners[/caption]
In total, Mikel Arteta’s men found the net from 22 set-pieces – excluding penalties – in the league, form that almost won the title as they agonisingly missed out to Manchester City on the final day.
Set-piece coach and guru Nicolas Jover has transformed the North Londoners with his NFL-style routines, both in attack and defence.
And in their final pre-season outing – Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Lyon – both goals came from Declan Rice corners via William Saliba and Gabriel headers in the first half.
But while much is the same, that win also showed that Jover has a few more tricks up his sleeve for opponents this campaign.
Ben White was chief tormentor last year, often tasked with annoying the opposition goalkeeper – notably in the North London derby when he tried to remove Tottenham keeper Guglielmo Vicario’s glove from a corner.
Yet his role looks to have been tinkered with, and he is not the only one.
Saliba has a more active role in the six-yard box, Gabriel has license to attack from deep and the introduction of £42m new signing Riccardo Calafiori has added further height and power.
There is also much more emphasis on the back post, an area that Arteta and Jover believe Arsenal can dominate aerially.
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Arsenal won 12 corners against Lyon, the first coming in the fifth minute with Rice – now their first-choice and most effective corner taker – stepping up to deliver with an in-swinger.
They set up with five players at the back post (see above) – an imposing mob of Saliba, White, Thomas Partey, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli.
Gabriel is hovering near the penalty spot. Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka are on the edge of the box and Oleksandr Zinchenko acts as cover.
Lyon bizarrely only have two men marking the five with Partey left completely on his own at the back.
Partey, Saliba, White and Martinelli all run into the six-yard box towards the near post but Havertz spins to the byline and runs behind the keeper on his blind side.
Rice’s delivery is a poor one and does not reach the first man but Martinelli keeps it alive and wins another corner.
It is a similar set-up (see above), but this time Saliba is closer to the keeper ready to act as a blocker when the ball comes in with Partey, White, Havertz and Martinelli filling the six-yard box.
Gabriel races to the back post but the ball comes to an unmarked Martinelli whose connection is wayward.
Arsenal win their third corner inside 10 minutes and things eventually click with an identical set-up to the first.
But this time, it is Saliba who spins his marker and runs into the goal and around the keeper while his teammates crowd the near post.
Saliba now has the space to readjust before guiding his header in to open the scoring in the ninth minute.
By the 27th minute, Arsenal are shaking things up. Saliba stands directly on the keeper to block as Gabriel outmuscles his marker and heads for the near post.
While the likes of Havertz, White and Partey have filled the six-yard box to apply pressure, the keeper fails to jump over Saliba to clear the ball and Gabriel heads in.
It is not just at corners where Arsenal are trying something new. In the 65th minute, Calafiori comes on for his debut and immediately joins the back-post mob for a Saka free-kick on the far right.
With Zinchenko off, White acts as the counter-attack stopper and Calafiori uses his huge frame to cause chaos, giving Saliba space to flick on towards Havertz at the far post but the touch is too hard.
Arsenal have a tricky start to the new season
