25 February 2024 , 13:29
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Arsenal have scored a stunning 19 goals from set-pieces so far this season, 13 of which have come from corners.
Two of the Gunners' four goals scored against Newcastle on Saturday night were bagged from corners. The game's opening goal saw Gabriel Magalhaes rise highest to head Bukayo Saka's out-swinging corner goal-bound, though his attempt was saved by Magpies goalkeeper Loris Karius, but as Tino Livramento attempted to clear his lines he instead booted the ball onto Sven Botman's knee - deflecting it over his own goal-line as a result.
It may not have been the most perfectly executed corner Arsenal have scored this season, but they all count. The Gunners' fourth and final goal came about in similar circumstances. Few had Declan Rice pinned as a dead-ball specialist upon his Emirates arrival, but the £105million man now has four assists from corners alone this term.
Rice's inviting corner was headed home by Jakub Kiwior, though the ball took a couple of deflections before it ended up in the back of the Newcastle net. Arsenal's set-piece heroics are nothing short of sensational and the impact of set-piece coach Nicolas Jover cannot be understated.
With that being said, opposition manager Eddie Howe discussed Arsenal's set-piece routines and what makes them so difficult to thwart from the defending team's perspective. He told reporters after the full-time whistle: "I think you get a mixture of a good delivery and players that want to attack the ball, that's the start of combination.
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"Arsenal have that at the moment. We knew their corners, we knew they were coming, so we should've done better." Howe did go on to add that he feels he knows how to stop Arsenal from having so much success from corners and bemoaned the fact his team didn't do it. He continued: "To combat that you have to be really aggressive, aerially, and we didn't do that well enough."
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Declan Rice's corner was headed home by Jakub KiwiorArsenal boss Mikel Arteta was asked if there was a bonus on the way for set-piece coach Jover given his tactics are clearly working a treat at the moment. The question prompted a wry smile from the Gunners manager before he explained: "That’s probably for the owner or Edu to respond!
"The fact that we are scoring goals in various ways, from various players as well, is really satisfying. We could’ve scored many more today and we have to continue to do that and keep developing all the things we can still do better and something we have to improve obviously, and get players back which as well we are doing right now. That’s going to be really important."
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