ARSENAL kicked off the defence of their Premier League title with a convincing 3-0 win over Coventry on Friday night.

While the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool all struggled in their opening games, there was no such trouble for the Gunners.

Arsenal FC v Coventry City - Premier League 2026/27Arsenal kicked off the new season by beating Arsenal 3-0 Credit: Getty Premier League - Arsenal v Coventry CityNicolas Jover came up trumps with another new set piece Credit: Reuters

swept Frank Lampard’s newly-promoted side away.

However, set-piece mastermind Nicolas Jover also delivered once again – by unveiling a brand new ‘ghost’ corner routine that completely baffled the visitors.

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SunSport’s tactical expert Dean Scoggins broke down the victory for Mikel Arteta’s side in the latest episode of Tactics Exposed.

First things first, did you spot the little ghost trick?

Look at Ben White’s run on the blind side of the goalkeeper where nobody’s going to pick him up because Coventry are marking zonally – and so he’s not been seen.

take a sneaky short corner, after the one-two he and he gets on the ball inside the area.

Riccardo Calafiori does a job as the decoy man as Arsenal crash the box and then White passes to Tzolis.

Arsenal taking even their set-piece tactics to another level.

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We’ve got to acknowledge that with the refereeing this year and all the talk of the cut down in grappling, Arsenal need to find another way to be a threat at set pieces and on matchday one, boy did they do it.

And while it was the old guard on the scoresheet, it was .

In a lesson in Greek philosophy, the wide man proved he understands exactly what Mikel Arteta wants from him, disrupting Coventry’s defence by running across the line into the areas his manager wants him – not just standing there and making himself easy to mark.

That also opened space for Riccardo Calafiori down the left for Arsenal.

Still from a soccer game showing a zoomed-in view of players near the goal, superimposed on a wider, grayscale view of the field.Ben White ‘ghosted’ his run behind the goalkeeper Credit: SunSport Live action shot of a soccer game between Arsenal and Coventry City, showing a player in a red jersey with a red arrow and circle around him.He became free inside the area and received the pass from Bukayo Saka Credit: SunSport A football match in progress, with players near the goal, the score Arsenal 0-0 Coventry City, and a red highlight indicating offside.White could then pick his pass inside the box Credit: SunSport Arsenal FC v Coventry City - Premier League 2026/27Christos Tzolis looks to be a very astute tactical signing Credit: Getty

At other times, he unselfishly kept the width and that led to the Saka goal, as he stayed out of the congestion centrally to put the low ball across.

It was a really impressive start from Tzolis, knowing when to come in and when to go out – the Tzolis Hokey-Cokey.

He may not be an straight away.

Finally, Arsenal also debuted a daring new-look 3-1-6 formation in possession, using Myles Lewis-Skelly to dominate central areas – and the gaffer may have taken inspiration from Paris Saint-Germain.

A soccer game with the score 0-0, 6 minutes into the game.Tzolis impressed on the left wing Credit: SunSport A soccer game with red arrows indicating the movement of a player and red circles around other players.He made runs into the danger areas Credit: SunSport A soccer match with a player with a red jersey making a pass, with a red arrow indicating the ball's trajectory.The Greek man also proved he can do the unselfish runs and keep the width when needed Credit: SunSport A soccer match showing players from two teams, with a score of 0-0 and 3:29 on the clock.Arsenal modelled a new 3-1-6 shape to get more attackers forward Credit: SunSport A wide shot of a soccer field with many players, a red arrow illustrates the path of the ball, indicating a long pass.The formation allows an overload on the full-back Credit: SunSport Soccer field with players, two highlighted areas, and an arrow indicating movement for a player.Myles Lewis-Skelly showed why it would be a mistake to sell him

The elite young midfielder rotated effortlessly with Declan Rice in the middle of the three and the solo one in midfield to enable Arsenal to overload the Coventry defence with six attacking players.

There were times last year when Arsenal got a bit stodgy and didn’t take enough risks but with .

The 3-1-6 gives six men in attack with the full-backs released due to the midfielder dropping in.

They created a 4v4, a 3 or 4v4 and an overload on the two pressers. That shape gives them more players in the right positions.

Ben White even hit long cross-field passes because of the overload which means even if they did lose the ball, they can counter-press 2v1.