REVEALED: Set-piece genius at centre of Kyle Walker’s furious bust-up worked for Pep Guardiola at Man City before Mikel Arteta persuaded him to Arsenal as replays show handshake snub led to mass confrontation

• Kyle Walker sparked a heated tunnel bust-up after Arsenal beat Man City
• He snubbed a handshake from ex-City coach Nicolas Jover to spark the row 
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’ 

An apparent handshake snub involving Kyle Walker and a former Manchester City coach sparked the dramatic tunnel bust-up which followed Arsenal’s late win at the Emirates on Sunday.

Sky Sports video footage showed City defender Walker and team-mate Erling Haaland walking off the field after Gabriel Martinelli’s 86th-minute goal inflicted their second successive league loss.

Nicolas Jover, the Arsenal set-piece coach who worked in the same role for Pep Guardiola at City between 2019 and 2021, is seen offering a handshake to Walker but is dismissed.

Berlin-born Jover, 41, began his career in the game as a video analyst at French club Montpellier and briefly served in a similar role for the Croatia national team.

He came to England in July 2016 to work as an assistant coach to Dean Smith at Brentford and continued under Thomas Frank when the Bees were in the Championship.

Arsenal’s win over Manchester City on Sunday saw a furious tunnel bust-up between City defender Kyle Walker and Gunners set-piece coach Nicolas Jover after the final whistle

Jover (right) worked under Pep Guardiola as part of City’s backroom team between 2019-2021

But Jover then moved to work for Mikel Arteta, Guardiola’s former No 2, at Arsenal in 2021

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His talents were recognised by Guardiola and in 2019, Jover joined City’s coaching staff to work on set-pieces.

While at the Etihad, Jover worked in his first few months with Mikel Arteta, Guardiola’s No 2, before he left to take the Arsenal job.

Arteta persuaded Jover to take a similar role at Arsenal in July 2021 after previous set-piece coach Andreas Georgson returned to Malmo as sporting director.

Jover established a reputation for set-piece innovation – during his two years with City, the club created 104 chances from set plays in Premier League action, leading to 16 goals.

He also improved City’s record of defending opposition set-pieces, helping them reduce the percentage of goals conceded from such situation from 39 per cent in 2018-19 to just 20 per cent the following season and 19 per cent the season after.

Arsenal’s set-piece effectiveness showed a similar improvement once Jover was installed at the club.

Sky footage showed how Walker dismissed Jover with several waves of his hand and continues walking towards the tunnel after the final whistle. 

However, after words are exchanged, Walker turns back and directly confronts Jover with the pair practically face-to-face as they continue their row.

Sky Sports footage of the incident showed Jover offering Walker a handshake as the City man walked towards the tunnel, only for Walker to dismiss him with a wave of the hand

Words are then exchanged and an angered Walker turns back in order to confront Jover 

Footage filmed from the stands near the Emirates tunnel show Walker angrily exchanging words and jabbing his finger as other City players and staff from both sides get involved

Walker is led away back towards the tunnel but points his finger at an Arsenal official

Haaland also turns around to back Walker up before the situation quickly escalates with coaches from both teams – as well as several other City players – becoming involved.

A clearly agitated Walker continues to argue until he is eventually persuaded down the tunnel, pointing his finger in the face of an Arsenal official at one stage.

Another camera angle showed Jover wagging his finger at nobody in particular while being calmed by Bukayo Saka.

Guardiola refuses to elaborate on what caused the bust-up afterwards, saying: ‘I know what happened but I won’t say anything. They know it.’

Martinelli’s deflected winner ended Arsenal’s 12-match losing streak in Premier League encounters against City.

It means City have lost three of their last four matches in an unusual blip for Guardiola’s side.

They were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle United, then went down 2-1 to Wolves in the league at Molineux. 

They recovered with a 3-1 Champions League win away to RB Leipzig in midweek but then suffered Sunday’s defeat in north London as we enter the international fortnight.  

Walker was visibly angered by whatever was said by Jover, sparking the mass bust-up 

Jover is pictured with Arteta after Arsenal beat City to win the Community Shield in August

Bukayo Saka reacts during the post-match fracas after Arsenal had overcome Man City

Arsenal boss Arteta insisted after the game that he had not seen the altercation. 

Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards said: ‘It looked like he was going to shake his hand, but Kyle didn’t really want to,

‘We’re in October, if we were in March or April I could understand the frustration, they probably don’t want to go to Arsenal and lose but it’s not the end of the world.’ 

Ex-Arsenal winger Theo Walcott, also working for Sky, said a ‘nerve had been hit’ in the post-match fracas. 

‘We always look at City and they’ve been very professional and not reacting in situations,’ he added.

‘And that’s where I feel like a nerve’s been hit here, and he’s caught it there definitely.’

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