Highlights
- Midfielder Declan Rice is Arsenal's main corner taker, registering several assists last season.
- Set-piece coach Nicolas Jover's impact led to Arsenal leading the league in set-piece goals.
- Rice's corner form was effective last season, with 4 assists from his first 22 corner kicks after the winter break.
Whilst most in football would assume that a 6'2 defensive midfielder would be better served inside the area from delivery set-pieces. At Arsenal, Mikel Arteta and Nicolas Jover had other ideas.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Declan Rice is responsible for corner-taking duties at Arsenal these days, having developed a new weapon in his repertoire which is said to further bolster his development into a complete midfielder.
The interesting move has worked to good avail, too. Rice registered eight assists in the Premier League last season, with several of these having come from his new set-piece responsibilities, including two in a 6-0 demolition job against former side West Ham United.
The midfielder has been known for some time now as to the technical qualities he possesses alongside his defensive acumen, but his developed abilities as an elite set-piece taker may morph him into an even further developed player.
Arteta: "Rice has huge quality"
The Englishman has been placed on corners for Arsenal
With Gabriel Jesus missing a lot of the campaign gone by, Arsenal may have been missing a striker who could comfortably notch 20+ goals a season. However, they more than made up for that by leading the league in set-piece goals last season with 22.
One of the biggest catalysts behind that statistic was the contributions of set-piece coach Jover, who was poached from Manchester City in 2021 after leaving an impression on Arteta in their six months together.
At the Etihad, Jover reduced the percentage of goals conceded by Man City made up from set-pieces by 19% (two goals less) in his first season there, which took City from having the tied-10th best set-piece defence in the league to having the fourth best. He reduced it further the season after as well, by another two goals and 4%, leaving Man City as the best set-piece defence in the league before his Arsenal switch.
His impact was immediately felt at the Emirates too. In the 111 Arsenal matches before Jover arrived at Arsenal, the club averaged a goal from every 32 corners, hitting the league average of 3%. In the 111 after his arrival, Arsenal were scoring at double the rate, with a corner goal every 16 matches.
The goals flowing came with help from the renewed ideas of Rice, who began taking corners more regularly following the club's winter break in Dubai, where they reportedly focussed heavily on set-pieces during the camp.
Before then, Rice had only taken three corners in 20 games with Arsenal, but took 12 in the next four upon returning, grabbing three assists for himself. After that, he has now become the nailed-down corner take for Arsenal for inswingers from the left.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live (via Mirror), Arteta gave the finer details on the qualities that make Rice surprisingly suitable for the job:
“He’s a player who has a tremendous impact in our team. He can still evolve because he wants to and because he has qualities that in my opinion can be exploring and developing in a really powerful way.
“It’s a decision that the team had in relation to how we have to attack the box in certain things – and because he had a delivery. Then they started to work, especially with Nico (Jover). They built that relationship, trust and timing. They said: ‘This can work.’
“There are areas that can have a huge impact for the team and this is one of them. There are others that are going to be related to his position because at the moment we get different layers of him because of all the different positions he can occupy on the pitch."
Related
Who is Arsenal's 'Genius' Set-Piece Coach Nicolas Jover
GIVEMESPORT's Nicolas Jover profile provides all you need to know about the Arsenal set-piece specialist who also worked with Man City and Brentford.
Rice Corner Statistics
The midfielder has been an effective taker
Though Rice may not be everyone's initial idea of a corner taker, given his physical attributes and 6'2 height, he was very effective upon Arsenal's return from winter break last season, registering four assists from 22 corner kicks after having only taken five beforehand in the season. He would end that season with the many assists from corners, while also getting another when taking a free-kick.
GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Arsenal scored 20 set-piece goals last season – more than any other team in the Premier League –with Rice providing assists for 25% of them (five occasions).
Arteta attributed his excellent delivery and passing range as to the nature of his quality. His corner form has continued in pre-season as well, with the 24-year-old notching two set-piece assists in Arsenal's 2-0 victory over French giants Lyon.
So, perhaps Rice is not the most stereotypical set-piece wizard in the league, but the brainstorm of Arteta and Jover, combined with hard work in training, is why the England midfielder is now an elite-level delivery man for the Gunners.
