Martin Odegaard and Mikel Arteta (Photo by Ryan Pierse, Julian Finney/Getty Images)
While it’s still a bit early to be making any firm predictions about this season’s Premier League title race, it’s probably fair to say that Arsenal will be kicking themselves for a missed opportunity yesterday.
The Gunners could only manage a 1-1 draw away to Fulham, with set pieces yet again coming to their rescue as William Saliba tapped in from Kai Havertz’s knock-down from a corner.
Bukayo Saka then had a late goal ruled out for offside, but in general we just haven’t seen Mikel Arteta’s side looking that dangerous in attack, with players like Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard all below par for some time now.
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Arsenal have a proud history of playing stylish and attack-minded football, with Arsene Wenger putting together some of the most entertaining teams in Premier League history during his time in charge.
Arsenal don’t look creative enough under Mikel Arteta, and the stats prove it…
This Arsenal side, however, is quite different, with Arteta making the north Londoners into a more tall and physical team who are more resolute than a lot of Wenger’s teams, but less pleasing on the eye.
This stat below from James Benge rather sums up Arsenal’s problems in games like yesterday’s…
Arsenal have created an open play expected goal in one of their last eight Premier League matches. Across the season as a whole it's three of 15. They rank 13th in the Premier League for open play xG.
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) December 8, 2024
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It may be that Arsenal can address this in the transfer market, but it will be difficult to find real quality easily available in the middle of the season, so it might mean waiting until next summer.
AFC really need to win a major trophy soon, though, after coming so close in the last two seasons, and with Manchester City finally suffering a significant dip this term, which is probably unlikely to last that long.
This is a big opportunity for Arsenal, but they appear to have gone backwards in some ways under Arteta, who arguably hasn’t put enough emphasis on a good attacking gameplan.
Bukayo Saka in action for Arsenal against Fulham
Bukayo Saka in action for Arsenal against Fulham (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
The Spanish tactician has clearly done a really good job with Arsenal overall, but fans will be concerned that players like Martinelli, Jesus and Trossard have gone backwards under his guidance, while there doesn’t seem to be much sophistication to the play other than to give it to Odegaard or Saka and hope for the best.
Arsenal need another game-changer in this team, or they need Arteta to give his current attacking players a bit more freedom to express themselves, with crosses into the box and goals from set pieces simply not enough for a team with ambitions of winning the title.