Gary Rose
BBC Sport journalist
The rivalry between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal resumes on Sunday with the first north London derby of the season.
However, the Gunners go into the game depleted in a key area, with Declan Rice suspended and captain Martin Odegaard set to be missing for three weeks after injuring his ankle on international duty.
The loss of Odegaard would mean the loss of their most creative spark, with no Arsenal player having created more chances than the Norwegian since the start of last season.
Arsenal were deadly from set-piece situations last season, scoring 22 times from them – more than any other team.
That is twice the amount Tottenham managed, with Spurs conceding 16 times from dead balls last term including two in the 3-2 defeat against Arsenal. Only Sheffield United, Luton Town and Nottingham Forest conceded more.
The Gunners have seen a big improvement in this area since set-piece specialist Nicolas Jover joined in 2021.
In the 111 matches before Jover’s arrival, Arsenal scored a goal every 32 corners. In the 111 fixtures since his arrival, they have found the net every 16 corners – a significant improvement.
We are only three games into this season, so a minimal amount can be read into any team’s set-piece strength this campaign. Arsenal are yet to score from one but Tottenham have.
However, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou has previously indicated that set-pieces – both defending them and scoring from them – is not something he is overly concerned about.
“I’m not interested,” he said in May, external. “Never have been. Not in the least.
“It’s not the first time I’ve been questioned about set-pieces in my coaching career. There is an underlying reason for that, which I’m very, very comfortable with.”
