IN the Dubai heat back in January 2024, Arsenal stumbled upon Declan Rice’s red-hot corner-taking prowess.
Following his £105m summer move from West Ham, midfielder Rice took just three Prem corners in 20 appearances to start the 2023-24 campaign before the club’s mid-season trip to the Middle East on January 8.
Declan Rice’s corner delivery is in the spotlight[/caption]
Bukayo Saka’s perfect crosses are a thing of the past with the England and Arsenal star out injured[/caption]
Arsenal worked on corners during their warm-weather training camp in Dubai[/caption]
After a dismal run of one win in five over the festive period, the winter sunshine was the catalyst for Arsenal’s impressive run-in of 16 wins and a draw from their last 18 league matches.
Ultimately, still falling short on the final day, finishing two points off champions Manchester City.
An added and unexpected bonus of that Dubai camp was Gunners set-piece guru Nicolas Jover discovering and honing Rice’s wand of a right foot from dead-ball situations, specifically corners.
What caught Jover’s eye was Rice’s consistency of placement and the rare ability to vary his delivery style — from his looped curlers to the back post to more direct near-post drillers.
Gunners manager Mikel Arteta said: “Declan has been there since we decided to use him because of his unbelievable deliveries. He is so consistent.
“We have scored a lot of goals. That curve, that level, is impossible to maintain. We knew it would fluctuate so we have to improve again.”
From January 20, 2024 to the end of the season, Rice took 44 Prem corners, producing four assists in wins against Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Tottenham and West Ham.
It was that 6-0 thumping of his former Hammers on February 11, 2024 that really stood out.
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Rice’s corner saw William Saliba open the scoring and his free-kick was headed in by Gabriel, not to mention a curling worldie of his own to wrap things up against his old chums in East London.
Arsenal had found their secret weapon. With Rice’s deliveries from the left and Bukayo Saka’s from the right, they ended the 2023-24 campaign with a joint Prem record of 16 goals from 265 corners.
That is an average of seven corners per game and one goal every 16 corners. In short, a near-guarantee of goals.
But 12 months on from that London Stadium battering, in another title race, with West Ham the opponents again on Saturday, Arsenal’s dead-ball bullies have gone quiet.
There is no need for panic. Arteta’s men remain top of the Prem’s corner tally this term with ten goals from 162 taken — four more than nearest challengers Aston Villa, and of Saka’s ten league assists, three have come from corners.
But Arsenal’s fearsome aura has faded in recent weeks, especially after Saka tore his hamstring at Crystal Palace on December 21.
With Saka out until at least mid-March, the responsibility has fallen on Rice. The variety they once had that saw opposition defenders scrambling is missing.
Saka would loft one to the back post for an incoming Gabriel from the right, and moments later Rice would fizz another to the near post for a flick-on — a delivery that on average is half a foot lower.
The numbers have also taken a hit. Since April 2024, Rice has registered just one Prem assist from corners.
In fact, the midfielder has just one assist from 69 corners taken this term — and no assists from the 21 he has taken since Saka went under the knife.
Rice has been unfortunate not to have more assists — his delivery in the 1-1 draw at Fulham on December 8 was tapped in by Saliba AFTER Kai Havertz had helped it on.
And Arsenal’s last goal from a corner on January 15 — from yet another Rice delivery — went down as a Dominic Solanke own goal from Gabriel’s header in the 2-1 home victory over Tottenham.
But since then, 30 Prem corners have come and gone in games against Aston Villa, Wolves, Manchester City and Leicester with nothing for touchline prowlers Arteta or Jover to wildly celebrate.
Ten points from a possible 12 in that run should not be sniffed at, especially with Arsenal’s injury crisis, but with Rice off the set-piece boil and Ethan Nwaneri and Leandro Trossard struggling to replicate Saka’s corner routines, Arteta will be wanting more.
The Gunners were back in Dubai this month with set-pieces on the agenda.
Ironically, it was a corner drill that saw German striker Havertz attempt to block a shot and pick up a season-ending hamstring injury out there.
Arteta has been routinely mocked for his Tony Pulis-esque approach.
But the Spaniard knows that with no recognised centre-forward and a real lack of attacking fluidity, corners could be their best bet in chasing down leaders Liverpool and keeping their title dreams alive.
Rice’s right foot will be in the spotlight more than ever.
Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover has transformed the club’s corners[/caption]
Mikel Arteta will be hoping Declan Rice is able to find his man in the box a little more in the title run-in[/caption]
