Arsenal shaky with defensive injuries, Mikel Arteta struggles to deal with set-piece threat in aerial battles Football News

Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Fulham on Sunday introduced a well-recognized feeling of frustration to Mikel Arteta. That is the seventh time they’ve dropped factors in 15 Premier League video games this season. They’re six factors behind the identical stage final season.

That is particularly laborious to swallow contemplating his crew’s dominance. “We deserved to win from begin to end,” Arteta stated. Fulham solely had two photographs on objective, considered one of which scored. Their whole variety of touches within the opposition penalty space was the bottom within the Premier League all season.

Arsenal, in the meantime, loved 66 per cent possession and created probabilities value greater than two anticipated objectives however failed so as to add to William Saliba’s close-range equalizer, with Bukayo Saka’s late header was dominated out by VAR on account of Gabriel Martinelli being offside.

Ultimately, failing to attain one other objective meant Arsenal missed the chance to chase the rating to inside 4 factors of Liverpool. The outcome additionally highlighted a few of their issues this season.

Protection accidents and inconsistency

Steady protection was the cornerstone of Arsenal’s title problem final season. William Saliba performed each minute. There was some disruption at left-back, however Saliba’s centre-back associate Gabriel Magalhaas has solely missed two video games. Proper again Ben White missed only one objective.

This season is totally different. The draw at Craven Cottage was the third previously seven Premier League video games with out Arsenal’s first-choice centre-back pairing, with Saliba beforehand suspended and Gabriel recovering from harm.

These issues are extra apparent on the again. Oleksandr Zinchenko, lately injured, was again on the sidelines towards Fulham alongside Riccardo Calafiori, White and Takehiro Tomiyasu Go to conflict. Jurien Timber and Myles Lewis-Skelly additionally missed the sport.

Zinchenko’s absence means a reshuffle on Sunday, with Thomas Partey shifting to right-back and Timber to left-back. Along with centre-backs Saliba and Jakub Chiviol, they kind Arsenal’s ninth again 4 in 15 Premier League video games this season.

That is greater than the 38 video games they performed final season.

Arsenal’s makeshift protection was largely undisturbed by Fulham. However the affect of their defensive accidents could possibly be seen from the primary objective, with Chiviol more likely to be Arteta’s seventh-choice centre-back when everyone seems to be match, however he may simply get replaced by Raul · Jimenez defeated.

Arteta could have had this second in thoughts when he referred to the Premier League’s “slender benefit” after the sport.

The upheaval at fullback additionally had a detrimental impact on the assault.

For instance, towards Fulham, Arsenal’s left-back was right-footed and the right-back was a pure midfielder. Arsenal may by no means convey their typical risk out vast, and it confirmed.

Bukayo Saka was comparatively quiet, however that was largely all the way down to a scarcity of assist, with Second Spectrum monitoring exhibiting Partey solely managed one overlapping run in all the recreation. It was the identical on the opposite aspect, with Timber solely permitting his wingers one overlapping run.

These runs outdoors are invaluable for pulling defenders away from the winger, however they don’t seem to be a part of Partey’s recreation, and they’re additionally awkward for a right-footed Timbers to minimize the left. . This in the end hindered Arsenal’s attacking risk and made it simpler for Fulham to defend their flanks successfully.

Lack of open-ended concepts?

Sunday’s recreation was the newest through which Arsenal have proven nice risk from set-pieces. Saliba’s equalizer was their twenty third nook kick objective for the reason that begin of final season, and the Gunners additionally missed a number of dead-ball scoring alternatives.

However Arteta outlined his willpower to be “the king of every little thing” relatively than simply corners in his pre-match press convention, and the numbers recommend they’re missing in different areas.

Arsenal’s non-corner anticipated objectives towards Fulham is simply 0.47, a determine that was solely barely larger in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Manchester United.

It did not matter towards Ruben Amorim’s aspect, Arsenal had been capable of rating twice from corners with out counter-attacking. Arteta additionally believes the 2 facets are linked, provided that nook kicks and free-kicks required for set-piece alternatives come from the dominance of open play.

Nonetheless, the numbers increase some alarm amongst followers. Arsenal are the best crew within the Premier League in the case of creating scoring probabilities from set items, however they rank final in anticipated objectives from empty possessions this season.

It is not the place they need to be, however context is necessary. Along with defensive accidents which have affected the crew’s rhythm, Arsenal have been with out their essential creator Martin Odegaard by means of harm for about half of their Premier League video games.

Their circulate has suffered with out him and their total numbers have suffered on account of lengthy spells with 10 males towards Brighton, Manchester Metropolis and Bournemouth earlier within the season. .

Arsenal’s assault did look gentle, particularly with Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling struggling to make a optimistic affect. However Arsenal set a membership report for objectives final season and Arteta hopes a clearer harm listing will get them again to that degree.

The priority is that with Liverpool and Chelsea accumulating factors on the present charge, any additional missteps within the meantime would go away them with an excessive amount of floor to make up.

The schedule will not be slack in any respect

Arsenal’s harm issues can’t be alleviated. Certainly, their schedule will increase the chance of additional setbacks, with the Gunners set to start 4 video games in 11 days, beginning with a Champions League tie towards Monaco on Wednesday.

The inevitable knock-on impact of accidents is that others must play extra minutes than deliberate. Timber, for instance, has began 10 consecutive video games, and the dearth of accessible alternate options means his run is more likely to proceed. That is a heavy workload for a participant who solely got here again from a severe knee harm over the summer season.

The place doable, Arsenal might want to juggle Champions League and Premier League commitments with subsequent week’s Carabao Cup quarter-final towards Crystal Palace. However the demand for the trophy is so nice that no competitors could be taken flippantly.

If there’s one optimistic, it is that their upcoming schedule appears friendlier than it did within the first few months of the season, if not from a recreation depend then from an opponent perspective. Throughout that interval, Arsenal endured a lot of their hardest video games.

They will not face any of the groups at the moment within the high six of their subsequent 5 Premier League video games. Their January journeys to Brentford and Brighton will not be simple, however their subsequent away recreation towards a top-six aspect is not till February 25 after they journey to fifth-placed Nottingham Forest.

Arteta hopes that by then, Arsenal shall be nearer to the highest of the Premier League, not additional away. However loads will rely on the gamers they’ve. Sunday’s draw with Fulham reminded us that there is no such thing as a room for error.