Arsenal football club is known for many things. The iconic red and white color scheme, the cannon logo, and sadly, coming in second place. Arsenal frequently place in the top four in the premier league, which qualifies them for the Champions League, but never make it to first place. This season, they’ve had remarkable success. The signings of Viktor Gyokeres, Cristhian Mosquera, and Martin Zubimendi in particular have had an immediate and noticeable impact on the squad’s performance. But it’s not as if they’re running away with either the Premier League or the Champions league, so what needs to change?
Forward play from new Players
During the summer transfer window, Arsenal made it a very clear priority to pursue offensive players. One of their biggest weaknesses last season was their dependency on set pieces to produce goals, meaning they relied on free kicks or corner kicks as opposed to scoring from open play. In an attempt to fix this, Arsenal signed Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting Lisbon, Noni Madueke from Chelsea, and Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace. These signings seem to have worked, as in recent matches Arsenal have shown a more developed ability to score without needing a set piece. But the new signings haven’t been performing as needed for the club thus far. Eberechi Eze has performed to a satisfactory level, with 5 goals and 4 assists following the Club Brugge 3-0 victory. Gyokeres and Madueke, however, have fallen short of what’s been needed, with 6 goals and 3 goals respectively. Instead, more experienced members of the club have been taking advantage of the opportunity and openings created by some of the new signings to score, including Leandro Trossard, who at the moment has 6 goals and 5 assists. Overall the attack has improved, but these new faces will need to continue to improve if they want consistent first team starts.
Injury Management
The Premier League tracks injuries in terms of the number of times where a player has missed a game due to injury. As of late, Arsenal are (as per usual) second in the Premier League with 26 injuries, only behind Leeds United. While injuries themselves are not something that can obliterate a club’s chances of winning, it’s the amount of injuries and who they’ve occurred to that matters most. The most notable of these recent injuries are to their star Center Backs William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães. Saliba has missed recent games with a minor muscle injury, while Gabriel is projected to return in late December or early January with an injury to his thigh/hip adductor that occurred while playing for Brazil’s national team this past international break. Martin Odegaard, one of the team’s staple midfielders, has also missed time more than once with recurring shoulder and knee injuries. The team will have to manage these, and other players, absences as best as they can while still winning games, not just tying.
Away Performance
Arsenal at home in North London at the Emirates stadium have looked invincible. 7 matches played thus far, resulting in 6 wins and 1 draw. Which would be fantastic, if it was repeated when away. When away, this season their record in 8 games is only 4 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses. As of right now, Arsenal have their next match against Wolves at home. And while they’ve been dealing with injury and inconsistency, Manchester City has slowly been creeping their way back up the table, to where now, they find themselves only 2 points behind Arsenal going into a match against Crystal Palace this weekend. In order to extend their lead in the table, Arsenal will need to find more consistency during away games, and continue their dominance at home.
Conclusion
All this is not meant to say, however, that Arsenal are doomed to repeat falling from first to second place every year. The team has greatly improved since last year, and while they do have serious issues that need to be patched, as of right now, the squad looks complete and balanced. Notably, the team has a good rhythm, especially amongst the midfield with players like Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Eberechi Eze, and Martin Odegaard. The attack on the wings this season has also been very fun to watch. Leandro Trossard, as mentioned earlier, but also players like Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, have really sharpened their skills this season. It’s entirely possible for Arsenal to win either the Champions League or Premier League, as there are still many months to play in the season. Hopefully they can manage to get a hold on these issues and get back on track with a win against Wolves on Saturday.
