Central defender as a goalscorer
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As Arsenal revived their title hopes with a 5-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, something amazing happened in the stands of the Emirates Stadium. The longer the game went on, the more frenetic the fans’ cheers became at corner kicks for the Gunners, almost as if the ball was already in the net. The Londoners have reached a new dimension in standard situations. Among the most important protagonists: central defender Gabriel Magalhães and assistant coach Nicolas Jover.
After eleven minutes, defense chief Gabriel opened the scoring against the “Eagles” with a header from Declan Rice’s corner. Two minutes later the next goal almost came after a corner kick from Bukayo Saka, which Jefferson Lerma almost maneuvered into his own goal, before Gabriel forced exactly that from Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson after a Saka corner in the 38th minute. 2:0. Arsenal had Palace almost in the bag with two corner goals.
It’s a recurring motif in Mikel Arteta’s team this season. Arsenal leads the Premier League with the most goals from set pieces (excluding penalties). Once under coaching legend Arsène Wenger, the “Gunners” defense was considered particularly vulnerable to corners. Since the signing of French Standard coach Jover in 2021, who former Guardiola assistant Arteta brought with him from Manchester City, things have looked very different for the north Londoners.
How coach Jover turned Arsenal’s standard weakness into a strength
Set pieces could now be seen as the key to Islington’s title ambitions. On average there are ten to eleven corners in a Premier League game. Statistically, about five and a half for each team. Anyone who manages to convert their five to six corners per game into dangerous scoring opportunities will at least not reduce their chance of winning. And that is a focus of the recent “Gunners” seasons, which seems to be driving the team to near perfection, also thanks to defensive goalscorer Gabriel.
It’s not often that coach Arteta retreats to the bench during his team’s game. He can do it confidently in standard situations. Then Jover stands up. He conducts and his work bears fruit. Last season, Arsenal scored 15 league goals from set pieces – bettered by Liverpool (17), Tottenham (16) and Brentford (16). It was completely different in the season before Jover moved from Man City to London: Only two teams, Fulham and Sheffield United, collected fewer goals from “set pieces”, as they say in English.
After the win against Palace, winger Saka told TNT Sports: “We work a lot on set pieces. Nico, our standard coach, is doing a really good job. He tries to make it entertaining and he enjoys it. What he’s doing is obviously working, so we’ll keep doing it.” In November, Leandro Trossard spoke about Jover. The attacking player said: “It’s a pleasure to work with him. He’s really clever at set pieces. (…) It has helped us a lot.” Trossard was also an important part of Arsenal’s dangerous corners on Saturday at the Emirates Stadium. When Gabriel made it 1-0, the Belgian turned cleverly and blocked Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen’s diving path.
Arsenal’s Gabriel among top-scoring central defenders in the Premier League
The signing of central defender Gabriel from Lille for 26 million euros in the summer of 2020 is proving to be more and more of a major transfer coup with each passing season. The Brazilian has formed one of the most formidable defensive duos in world football with Frenchman William Saliba. His aggressive front-foot defending is the perfect complement to Saliba’s calm and collected nature. But it’s not just his strong defensive work that makes Gabriel stand out in the Arsenal jersey. He has become an increasing threat in the opposition penalty area, his jumping ability and the timing of his headers are a nightmare for opposing defenders.
Over the last three seasons, no central defender has scored more goals in the Premier League than Gabriel, who has scored ten goals since arriving in London. Ben Mee and Virgil van Dijk come closest with eight and seven goals respectively in the period. Gabriel’s goals-per-game record in the Premier League of 0.10 is bettered by only three central defenders in league history who have played 100 or more games: Thomas Vermaelen (0.12 goals per game), Frank Leboeuf ( 0.12 goals per game) and Matt Elliot (0.11 goals per game). The most goals of any central defender since the Premier League was founded was scored by John Terry, who netted 41 times but also needed 492 games to do so, with an average of 0.08 goals per game.
Gabriel could hardly have been more present in the Arsenal team last season and is the third player with the most consecutive league games for the Gunners. He made 75 consecutive appearances from 2021 until his omission in the 2-2 draw with Fulham earlier this season. Gabriel is a crucial figure for the team in both penalty areas. His market value has increased by 100 percent to 60 million euros over the past two years and could increase further in the next Premier League update.
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