Arsenal's Premier League clash against Newcastle United could ultimately be settled by the finest of details and Mikel Arteta can lean on a familiar plan to ensure his side boost their top-four hopes.
In preparing for the clash under the lights at St James' Park, the Spaniard may have watched some tapes of the Magpies' 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium last weekend. In particular, the goals scored by Aymeric Laporte and Rodri either side of half-time.
On both occasions, it was a corner routine that proved to be Newcastle's undoing with Laporte reacting quickest to Martin Dubravka's failure to hold on to Ilkay Gundogan's effort from outside the area before Rodri met Kevin De Bruyne's delivery at the near post to make it 3-0.
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If that's the blueprint to break down Eddie Howe's side then Arteta certainly has a not-so-secret weapon amongst his backroom staff to help his players copy it to a tee. Last summer the Gunners spent in the region of £150m to bolster their first-team squad with six signings, but perhaps their best deal was to appoint Nicolas Jover.
The Frenchman took up a role as a set-piece specialist at the Emirates Stadium after leaving Premier League rivals Manchester City when his contract expired last June and has been credited with Arsenal's improvement in this area by Arteta and supporters alike throughout the course of the season.
In fact, prior to the 2-1 win over Leeds United, they were yet to concede from a corner in the Premier League and were just as efficient at the other end with 13 goals via a set-piece routine with Rob Holding and Gabriel Magahales scoring with headers in the 2-1 win over West Ham United.
However, the defending from set-pieces record has been dented of late as against both Leeds and Tottenham Hotspur, the Gunners conceded from a corner with Diego Llorente and Harry Kane respectively reacting first to flicks-ons to score after finding space at the back post.
That's a routine Arsenal must be wary of tonight (Monday) as Newcastle had a goal ruled out for offside against Man City for a similar play. Although judging by Pep Guardiola's insight that Jover practices set-pieces "every day", it's safe to assume the players will have been well-drilled in training.
Furthermore, going by Jover's antics on the touchline whenever the Gunners were defending or attacking a set-piece against Leeds plus his reaction when Rodrigo nearly equalised in the closing stages, expect plenty of attention to detail to have been applied ahead of the Newcastle game where he could prove to be Arsenal's unsung hero once again.
