Man City solely responsible for deal with Arsenal for ‘little nuisance’
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Pep Guardiola is leading Man City through a tense title battle with Arsenal (Image: Getty)
Manchester City letting Nicolas Jover join Arsenal in 2021 has proven to be a costly decision. The revered set-piece coach is actively working against his former employers this season by boosting the Gunners’ Premier League title chances, and his expert advice was on full display during Arsenal’s win over Tottenham on Sunday.
Jover has become something of a household name for an obscure member of Mikel Arteta’s backroom staff. But it’s for good reason, as Arsenal’s superb performance from set pieces this season has been a key element of their success. A well-drilled Gunners attack scored two goals from corner kicks in their 3-2 win over local rivals Spurs, with Jover lapping up the celebrations.
Arteta and the German-born coach first worked together on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City backroom team. Arteta then left to take the top job at Arsenal in 2019, and he came back in for Jover two years later. If City go on to lose this year’s title race, there is little doubt that the Gunners’ set-piece prowess will have played a major role.
“They’ve got the first goal, Arsenal, and it has been the same Arsenal set-up all year, and it’s been good all year,” said the Manchester United legend. “Ben White the nuisance, the five big lads at the back getting across that near-post and [Takehiro] Tomiyasu does just enough. He just blocks Hojbjerg and he can’t get a full head on it.
“He just glances it and the goalkeeper, [Guglielmo] Vicario, it’s past him in a flash. He has no chance. Arteta jumps up and there he is, the set-piece coach.
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Frenchman Jover, who was born in Berlin, began working with Ligue 1 side Montpellier in his twenties before becoming an assistant at Brentford in 2016.
Three years with the Bees preceded his spell at City, which in turn came before his rise to prominence at Arsenal. Looking back on the shrewd decision to go after his fellow ex-City colleague, Arteta told TNT Sports earlier this year: “I gave my advice to go and recruit Nico. I met him, we started to discuss how we could apply set pieces to the open play, which is also connected, they’re not two separate things, it’s all connected in the game, and how we could maximize that.
“I knew Nico from before, and I asked him to come and join our project, he did, and he’s having a really strong impact on the team.”
