Right-side focus, bigger set-piece reliance and missing more chances: The story of Arsenal’s attack so far this season | OneFootball

Arsenal have not made the progress Gunners supporters were hoping for this season.

The title is not out of the question yet given it is still early days, but after the goalless draw with Everton on Saturday Mikel Arteta’s side sit third and six points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more.

Arsenal have finished second in both of the last two seasons, achieving an impressive 89 points last season but have not been able to reach the high heights of Manchester City, which makes City’s struggles this season all the more frustrating for Arsenal fans given that they have not quite been able to take advantage of it so far.

But how much of a drop off has there really been, and where do the problems lie in attack?

Scoring goals and creating chances

The biggest issue for Arsenal this season has been scoring goals. They have scored the fifth most in the league with 29, fewer than Chelsea, Tottenham, Brentford and Liverpool.

Arsenal have actually outperformed their expected goals figure of 26.8, a statistic of how many goals a team is expected to score based on the quality of their chances created.

Last season the team scored the second highest number of goals in the league with 86, overperforming from their third highest expected goals figure in the league of 76.1.

Creating chances from open play has been an issue, however. Stats show Arsenal are averaging 9.2 open play chances created per 90 minutes this season, which is down considerably from 11.9 last season.

But despite that, Arsenal have created a league high number of ‘big chances’ according to Premier League stats at 44, one more than Chelsea with 43. Last season they were down in fifth for that figure at the end of the campaign with 87.

The stats, and the evidence from watching games, shows Arsenal can create big opportunities, plenty of chances from set pieces, but are not creating a lot of opportunities which is an issue. It becomes all the more crucial, then, that players do take those big chances.

Missing chances

According to stats from the Premier League, Arsenal have missed the sixth highest number of big chances this season with 32, an average of two a game. They ended last season having missed a seventh highest 63, so at this rate are on course to surpass last season’s figure.

Clearly, missing more chances is also having an impact on the team’s drop off since last season.

Reliance on set pieces

Much has been made of Arsenal’s reliance on set pieces. A league high eight of their 29 goals have come from set pieces, including two penalties. Last season Arsenal also topped that statistic with 20 goals scored from set pieces but that included ten penalties.

Excluding penalties, then, Arsenal have already scored six goals from other set piece situations compared to ten in the whole of last season, and they have only played 16 games of this campaign.

In terms of chances created, data from Sky Sports shows that their set piece chances created per game so far this season is at 2.1, up from 1.6 per game across the whole of last season. 19% of their overall chances created are coming from set pieces, up from 12% across the entirety of the previous campaign.

Right-hand side bias

Another issue is the proportion of attacks that come from Arsenal’s right-hand side, the side which Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard play on. According to stats from Sky Sports, 45% of Arsenal’s attacks have come down the right-hand side this season.

That is the highest proportion of attacks that come in one of the thirds of the pitch (right, centre, left) of any team in the league. Second is Nottingham Forest, with 44% of their attacks coming down the left and third is Bournemouth, with 43% of their attacks coming down the left.

The stats lay bare Arsenal’s massive focus on attacking down the right, and perhaps leads to them becoming too predictable. Saka has been excellent this season and is Arsenal’s main man, but are they too reliant on him?

Mitigating factors

It must of course be said that Arsenal suffered in the injury absence of Martin Odegaard, among the most creative players in the Premier League. He created the joint fifth highest number of big chances in the league last season with 17 and they missed him badly in his absence.

But they are still struggling to create and score with him back, as the goalless draw against Everton showed, with Odegaard taken off in the second half.

Clearly, then, there are significant issues Arteta needs to address if Arsenal are to catch Liverpool. Could adding another forward be the answer?