How Odegaard's socks & Trossard's blocks turned Arsenal into set-piece kings

Manchester City, Martin Odegaard’s socks and corner-kicks. All three are interlinked.

It was Mikel Arteta who persuaded his friend and set-piece expert Nicolas Jover to leave City and join Arsenal in the summer of 2021.

And it is Jover who has helped the Gunners become the Premier League’s king of the set-piece, as Crystal Palace discovered.

Arsenal have scored 13 set-piece goals in the league thus far — more than any other side. Everton are second with 11.

Marginal gains, as coined by Manchester United’s new board member Sir Dave Brailsford, have forever been chased in sport.

For Arsenal, it was Gabriel’s two towering headers, one of which deflected in off goalkeeper Dean Henderson, which kick-started this 5-0 rout. Those two goals were particularly crucial with Arteta’s side on the back of a three-game losing streak.

The 6ft 3in Gabriel has 12 league goals for Arsenal, more than any other defender in the league since arriving at the club.

The Brazilian leapfrogged Chris Richards to nod in the opening goal. Declan Rice delivered the corner right on the money, yet it was Leandro Trossard who was just as crucial in the sequence.

He peeled away from Jeffrey Schlupp to block off Joachim Andersen, giving Gabriel the route to brush off Richards and enter the space in front of Henderson.

Andersen became fixated on Trossard’s position for the following corners. For the second goal, Andersen was preoccupied with the Belgian as Gabriel steamed to the back post to head goalward.

‘He (Gabriel) has this ability and the timing and deliveries have been consistent,’ said Arteta. ‘Others like Willie (Saliba) have this capacity to score more goals. We don’t have 30-40 goals from someone, so we need to share them. That is a good quality of the team.’

It is Jover’s influence rubbing off on a side who are willing to adapt to increase their scoring options. Arteta is very much on board and gives Jover the time and space to drill down the various intricacies.

One of those appears to be Odegaard’s socks. To signal whether the corner is to attack the front or back post, the Norwegian seems to have two separate gestures with the way he pulls at his socks. It does sound very Arteta.

Such intricacy is expected. Jover is well-versed in his craft. He joined Montpellier in 2009 and transformed them into a force at dead-ball situations as they won the French title in 2011-12.

Brentford were his first club in England, before moving to City on a recommendation by then-assistant coach Arteta. The Arsenal boss did not hesitate in bringing him to north London.

The impact of early set-piece goals is so vital. On Saturday, it caused Palace to become increasingly open as they chased the game.

‘Especially when you are attacking low blocks, to score in this certain way, everything has to be nailed perfectly,’ said Arteta.

‘Sometimes when you generate things that are a bit more chaotic, it opens teams up.’

Another positive was the arrival of Gabriel Martinelli in the 69th minute. It was the Martinelli of seasons past who came off the bench to score twice in stoppage time. Before Saturday, he had only managed four goals this season.

Arteta will hope the brace is the start of more goals for the Brazilian — but for set-pieces, it’s as you were.