I have wanted to talk about Arsenal’s attack in a more longform format for a little while now. But I’m always wary of contributing to the club faithful’s persistent addiction to doomcasting. And when it comes to the Gunners’ offensive personnel, the chatter among the supporters is quite negative. Personally, I think it’s a tad overblown, with that being further exacerbated by the champions’ Carabao Cup loss at Fleetwood Town.
Now don’t read what I’m not writing. I have plenty of concerns about Arsenal’s forwards, and I’m going to get into them later in this column. However, I think a lot of people suffer from tunnel vision when they talk about teams’ attacks. The focus is solely on the players listed as forwards on a club’s roster and in the Gunners’ case, I think that is a mistaken viewpoint.
Arsenal play as a collective in all phases. Mikel Arteta’s side is built to execute a system, not to specifically platform particular players (which might be why France Football continue not to rank Arsenal players as highly as they should be). Everyone defends, and it follows that everyone attacks in one way or another.
So when I think of the Gunners’ attack, sure, I think about Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz and Eberechi Eze and others. I will be offering criticisms on all those players and others who play in the front three. But I also think about Martin Ødegaard’s chance creation and passing into dangerous areas. I think of Mikel Merino, who can look like Havertz lite at center forward or do a bit of everything you need from a ten while also offering physicality in the final third. I think of Bruno Guimarães’ willingness to play directly and his penchant for shooting from distance. I think of Declan Rice’s corner delivery and third-man runs, and of Riccardo Calafiori’s persistence in popping up in the penalty area. I think of the threat that Gabriel, Ezri Konsa, and Jurriën Timber carry during set pieces. To me, all of that constitutes Arsenal’s attack.
And that attack has been solid to start the season. Arsenal are currently fifth in the league for goals and fourth in xG according to FotMob (behind Manchester City, Brighton, and Bournemouth). They are in the bottom half of the table for total shots and tenth in shots on target, but they are seventh for goals per shot and goals per shot on target. They are ninth in big chances created as well.
Now, it’s good but not great. However, there are reasons for that. In their first eight games, they have faced five teams currently in the top 11 for xG conceded. They have already had to deal with away trips to Aston Villa, Sunderland, Brighton, and Nottingham Forest. Arsenal have faced a lot of low blocks and gone to several tricky grounds already. And Arsenal have been forced to contend with a carousel of injuries; Saka and Tzolis have each picked up multi-week injuries, while Havertz has likely also played through an injury sustained during the last international break. That impacts even the best groups of attackers.
Obviously though, there are some clear issues with Arsenal’s forward line. I think the final action execution of, well, basically all of them has been lacking. I also feel that there hasn’t been enough of an intention from the forwards to beat their man on the ball. And while they all can pull something out every once in a while, I don’t think there is an ability to consistently decide games in these players. The group is missing high-end individual talent. At this point, I think it would be negligent for the club to let January pass without addressing that shortcoming.
Now, a lot of people engage in all-or-nothing thinking for this sort of thing — if it’s not perfect, it’s shit. I try not to do that. I think Arsenal’s pool of players for their front three is a seven out of ten. There’s talent in there, just not enough. But in the other two thirds of the pitch the Gunners are — dare I say it — world class. They have the best defense in Europe as well as one of the best midfields in Europe. Both groups certainly score between nine and ten out of ten in my book.
So all in all, Arsenal remain an excellent team. Yes, they are only decently functional in attack with plenty of room to improve (and we’ll momentarily discuss where they can upgrade). But they have elite defensive and midfield units that stifle opponents and control matches so well that they don’t need many goals to win.
That’s how I feel about the team as whole. But now, let’s take it player by player.
This is the first edition of the Player Concern Index for the 2026/27 season, so a brief refresher is in order. If you are unfamiliar with how it works, there are four ratings a player can receive after my assessment in the PCI. As always, below is the key for what each of those ratings means:
🟢 No long-term concern, this player is doing great.
🟡 A little long-term concern, this player is showing signs of potential issues down the road.
🟠 A lot of long-term concern, this player is showing some pretty clear and significant immediate issues.
🔴 Too much long-term concern, this player is flawed to the point where they are basically unusable and need to go ASAP.
Without further ado, let’s jump right in.