Suraj Radia
Mikel Arteta, Arsenal
© IMAGO
Arsenal will be hoping it’s third time lucky this season in their quest to win the Premier League but Mikel Arteta’s hopes could all rest on the consistency of their frustrating attacking talent.
The Gunners sit nine points behind leaders Liverpool and, by most metrics, Arteta’s side have taken a step back from last season, where they narrowly missed out on the title to Manchester City for a second consecutive year.
Arsenal have scored five goals less than this point last season, having also conceded two times more and dropping points in six of their 12 games – something that took them until matchday 18 to do in the previous campaign.
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It would require 22 wins from their remaining 26 games to match last season’s total and, with Liverpool’s 2.58 points per game outpacing the 2.39 of last year’s champions, even that may not be enough for Arsenal.
A four-game winless run in the league raised alarm bells at the Emirates but Arsenal’s 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest last weekend provided some temporary relief.
But the win was Arsenal’s first by a three-goal margin of the campaign and they will require more from their forwards to have any hope of closing the gap on Liverpool.
Gabriel Martinelli has struggled for consistency in recent times.
© IMAGO - Gabriel Martinelli has struggled for consistency in recent times.
Saka proving to be one-man band in Arsenal frontline
Despite Arsenal being the second-highest scorers in the Premier League in the last two years, no player has netted more than Bukayo Saka’s 16 goals from last season in any campaign under Arteta.
Arsenal have struggled to find a reliable source of goals in recent years and that has continued this year, with 14 players having scored more times than the Gunners’ top marksman in Saka, who has netted four times so far.
Saka has continued to blossom as Arsenal’s focal point, not going more than two Premier League games without a goal contribution since in 11 months, whereas Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli have both endured multiple barren runs in that time.
Havertz has failed to register a goal or assist in his last five league games, while, barring a three-match flurry in February, Martinelli had not contributed in back-to-back EPL fixtures since April 2023.
Indeed, Arsenal have the lowest proportion of shots from the left hand side of any Premier League team this season, with just 10% of their chances coming from Martinelli’s usual flank, compared to the second-highest on the right with Saka.
Arteta is believed to have resisted the urge to over commit for a striker this summer, instead throwing his loyalty behind Havertz and the equally-frustrating Gabriel Jesus to lead the line but his faith will continue to be tested by his mercurial attacking talent in the bid to finally end Arsenal’s title drought.