Gary Neville branded Arsenal’s set-piece ‘genius’ Nicolas Jover the ‘most annoying bloke in football’ as the Gunners beat his former club Manchester United in the Premier League.
Arsenal’s prowess from set-pieces was once again on full display as the north London side proved too strong for United, sealing a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Jurrien Timber and William Saliba.
Manchester United, who thumped Everton 4-0 last time out to hand new manager Ruben Amorim his first Premier League win, kept Arsenal at bay in the first half but were outclassed after the interval.
The defeat leaves United in the bottom-half of the Premier League table after 14 games while Arsenal close the gap on leaders Liverpool to seven points.
Neville watched Arsenal vs Manchester United live on a watchalong on The Overlap and took aim at Gunners set-piece coach Jover, who has been instrumental to the club’s success this season.
Arsenal have scored more goals from corners than any team in the Premier League this term and, speaking before the visit of United, Arteta admitted Jover is ‘very, very important’ to the team.
While that may be the case, Jover is yet to win over ex-Manchester United and England defender Neville, who said: ‘The set-piece coach at Arsenal, he’s got to be the most annoying bloke in football.
‘He’s got to be, hasn’t he? He’s got to be though, hasn’t he?’
After Arsenal scored from yet another corner, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher said of Jover: ‘I’ll tell you what, give him what he wants.
‘If you was that set-piece coach for Arsenal, you could write your own contract, couldn’t you? You couldn’t get rid of him.
‘You know, if he said, “I want 25 grand a week”, you’d have to give it to him, wouldn’t you?’
Arteta poached Jover, 43, from Manchester City shortly after taking over at Arsenal.
Discussing his role with the team earlier this week, Arteta said: ‘He’s a very special person and obviously someone very close to me.
‘I went to war for him at City because I felt there was a big room for improvement in that department.
‘I contacted him and I suggested to Pep (for him) to come and help us. Since then we’ve been extremely close.
‘We share a clear vision of how we want to put everything together, about how everything is connected, aligned and can work efficiently in our team.
‘There are a lot of other people who put a lot of effort and thought and hours into that, but for sure he is someone who is very, very important for the team.’
German-born French coach Jover has previously been described as a ‘genius’ by fellow set-piece analyst Mads Buttgereit.
‘I always had a passion for set-pieces but at that point I was still a normal coach, in a normal coaching role,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘I think, after meeting him, I began to see myself more as a set-piece specialist.
‘Nicolas is a genius in the way he thinks and the way he creates the plans. Sitting with him and discussing different set-plays, you feel everything has an exact thought behind it.
‘There are no coincidences at any point in any routine. Whenever we discussed set-pieces, it was never simple. We could discuss a specific corner routine for over an hour, not a problem.
‘We would go through every aspect and go through what the opponent would then do. It was very, very detailed.
‘There are a few set-piece coaches who I know personally but, in my mind, I think Nicolas is the best. He is fantastic.’
Meanwhile, Arteta was full of praise for his Arsenal team after they downed Manchester United and took advantage of Liverpool’s minor slip-up in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Newcastle United.
‘I’m very happy, it was a special night in this incredible stadium,’ he told Amazon Prime.
‘I think we deserved to win the game. We changed the team due to a few injuries, but what an energy in the stadium.
‘We got into the second half and we changed a few things – the team was superb. The team needs every possible result to win the game – let’s continue that.’
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