Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover’s contract with the club contains a bonus clause for goals from dead-ball situations, The Athletic can reveal.
When Mikel Arteta signed his most recent contract with Arsenal in September 2024, the club then had to embark on independent contract negotiations with his coaching staff including Jover, assistant Albert Stuivenberg and goalkeeper coach Inaki Cana.
The deals were ratified in 2025, and match Arteta’s in running until 2027 with the process led by then managing director, Richard Garlick and interim sporting director Jason Ayto.
Jover — whose expertise at set pieces has attracted interest from elsewhere — held a strong hand in negotiations. Ultimately the agreement reached ensured the 44-year-old would be rewarded for goals Arsenal scored from set-piece situations.
While many other clubs have sought to exploit the marginal gains of set pieces, the relationship between Arsenal and Jover has proven particularly fruitful.
Arteta brought Jover to Arsenal from Manchester City in July 2021. Asked in 2024 whether he considered Jover the best in his field, Arteta said: “In his field, in other fields and as a person. And the relationship that we have — that’s why I made the decision to bring him to City when I was there and then to Arsenal.”
It has been a hugely productive year for Arsenal and Jover. The team scored twice from corner kicks against Chelsea on Sunday, meaning they have now scored 16 goals from corners this season. This is the joint-most by any side in a single campaign, alongside Oldham Athletic in 1992-93, West Bromwich Albion in 2016-17, and Arsenal themselves in 2023-24.
They have gone 1-0 up from a corner on nine occasions in the Premier League this season. According to Opta, this is the joint-most by a team in a single season, along with Southampton in 1994-95.
This was also the ninth time in the Premier League this season that Arsenal have scored a match-winning goal from a corner. That is now the outright highest tally by a team in a single season (overtaking Manchester United’s eight in 2012-13).
Speaking about the set-piece goals in his post-match press conference on Sunday, Arteta said: “We haven’t scored set pieces for a few weeks now, but we scored so many in open play. Today was an option to score from this kind of situation; we’ve done it so well, and we conceded as well.”
