How Mikel Arteta's ally branded 'the most annoying man in football' has transformed Arsenal

"The set-piece coach at Arsenal, he’s got to be the most annoying man in football. He's got to be, hasn't he?" Last December, Gary Neville raised a few eyebrows when he publicly called out Arsenal's set-piece guru Nicolas Jover.

Fast forward almost a year, and it's fair to say Jover - who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday - is still annoying the Manchester United legend. That is because there's an even bigger focus on Arsenal's success from set-pieces, given their brilliant start to the new season.

Mikel Arteta, who has seen the Gunners falter in their last three bids for Premier League glory, has overseen an impressive campaign so far. The north Londoners are four points clear at the top of the league, and boast six and seven-point leads over Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.

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You can point to their impressive summer recruitment and the great work Arteta has done in building his team as integral parts of Arsenal's progress, but set-pieces have arguably been the biggest achievement this season. Nineteen per cent of all goals in the English top-flight this season have come via corners (45/241), the highest rate ever in a campaign.

And the Gunners have certainly played their part. They have scored 11 goals via set-pieces, two more than any other side (Chelsea are second with nine). The progress over the years has been remarkable.

Jover arrived at the Emirates Stadium in the summer of 2021, after leaving Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, and the club have consistently been a real threat from set-pieces. The season before his arrival, Arsenal managed just six goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties).

In his first campaign, looking at the same set-piece stat, they managed 16 goals. In 2022-23, where they narrowly lost out to City in the title battle, 15 of their 88 goals came from set-pieces excluding penalties. The following year they notched an impressive 22 and in the last campaign they delivered an decent tally of 17.

With only nine games played in the Premier League, their tally of nine (when you exclude penalties) puts them on track for another gigantic haul as they finally look to bring the title crown back to north London.

And Jover deserves plenty of praise for his work on set-pieces, despite Neville's criticism. The United icon, who made his initial comments after his former club were beaten 2-0 by Arsenal, even doubled down on his comments one month later.

Neville seems to have been offended by Jover's antics on the touchline - and the way he celebrates Arsenal's set-piece goals - and said: "I called him the most annoying man in football. Do you know something? I'm cementing my position, I'm doubling down.

"It's offending me every week. I'm going to say this really calmly, I think he's overreaching his importance. If a goalkeeper makes a good save, I don't see the goalkeeping coach on the edge of the touchline. I don't see the other coaches going up and getting the glory for it. The manager is at the front, he can't communicate from 50 yards away to players who know what they're doing. I think he's overreaching his importance, I genuinely believe that.

"I see goalkeeper coaches and brilliant coaches who work on other aspects of the game, I don't see them pointing to themselves and overreaching their importance. That's how I feel. I get he's important and he's doing a great job but I do genuinely think he needs to sit back a little bit. I think the players will start to look at him as well and think, 'hang on a minute, come on'."

But, why not celebrate if you're proud of the work you've done behind the scenes? Jover should be applauded for the way he has transformed Arsenal.

He's made the most of Arsenal's physicality and power in the squad and Arteta is now reaping the rewards. If Arsenal do finally win the league this season, Jover will have played a huge part in their success.