(Article posted on March 23rd-
England Premier Soccer League
(Prior to the scheduled 31st round of the tournament, the data captured is based on the date of publication).
England Premier Soccer League
After 3 rounds, 0 goals scored, 9 goals conceded, 0 points scored.
England Premier Soccer League
The 20th place finish kicked off a worrying 21/22 season for the Arsenal.
England Premier Soccer League
54 points after 28 rounds.
England Premier Soccer League
The 4th place finish makes it the best recent result among the teams competing for fourth place in this year's season.
With the same head coach Mikel Arteta, and only outgoing but not incoming transfers in the winter window, what kind of change has transformed the Arsenal from the laughing stock of fans at the beginning of the season to the center of the fight for
European crown
The big favorite for the seat?
The reason for the three consecutive losses in the first three matches is the lack of manpower in the backline. The starting defense lineup of Pablo Mari, Calum Chambers, and Sead Kolasinac, all three of whom had only completed two league matches each before leaving the club, were clearly not Arteta's main choices. With the addition of right back Takehiro Tomiyasu, center back Ben White recovering from an epidemic, Gabriel returning from injury, goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale stealing the starting spot, and the previously lone left back Kieran Tierney, the five-man defense quickly put the 9-goal deficit in 3 games behind them. The five defensemen quickly put the 9 goals allowed in 3 games behind them.
As the season progressed, they became more consistent. In the first 14 games, the average xGA (Expected Goals Allowed) per game was 1.70; in the last 14 games, the average xGA per game was 0.82, a huge difference that was cut right in half. A moving average line graph of xGA for the last 10 games below shows the trend of the Arsenal's Expected Goals Allowed decreasing over time.
(xGA data taken from understat)
In terms of defensive setup, the Arsenal's high-pressure pressing system is not their strong point. A statistic used to observe the team's aggressiveness in pressing - PPDA (Passes per defensive actions, the number of passes a team lets an opponent complete before executing a defensive action such as a steal or interception, with a lower number representing a more frequent and aggressive approach), ranked the Arsenal's season average at 1.99. The Arsenal's season average is 12.99, which ranks 16th. The main reason why this statistic cannot be lowered is that their main strikers (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the past or Alexandre Lacazette in the present) are not good at stealing, while the midfielders and wingers are more inclined to maintain the formation and protect the space between the center and back lines from being explored by the opponents, which is also the reason why Thomas This is the importance of the midfield combination of Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka. However, with the rise of new generation players such as Martin Odegaard (18.8 tackles per game) and Gabriel Martinelli (16.4), the team's defensive system is gradually changing, and a slightly lowering trend can be seen in the moving average line graph of PPDA below.
(PPDA data taken from understat)
To digress for a moment, high PPDA doesn't mean bad defense. Wolves, who have been outstanding in defense this season, are in the bottom 2 in PPDA, while Leeds United, who have opened the door, are in the top 1, and this statistic presents only the team's style of defense. The trend of decreasing PPDA of the Arsenal will bring more possession changes in the threatening area in front of the field, and even the slaughtering power of the opponents. I believe that Arteta will be happy to see such a change from these perspectives.
The percentage of long passes (over 30 yards) performed by Ramsdale, who has established himself as the No. 1 goalkeeper this year, is the biggest difference between him and Leno. The former has made 54 percent of his passes this season, compared to 37 percent last year. Ramsdale's long pass accuracy is 41.4% and 46.0% respectively, with Ramsdale slightly worse.Ramsdale's biggest threat for long passes is to go straight to the front of the net, completing an average of 0.92 passes to the front of the net per 90 minutes, much higher than Leno's 0.14. So it's not so much that Ramsdale is contributing to the team's success as it is to Leno's success. So Ramsdale's contribution isn't to safe passing at the back (which, of course, wouldn't be too worrying if it was to be done - looking for defenders to pass at the back is also a common way for him to make passes), but rather a more direct way of helping his team push forward. A few comparative figures below give a clearer picture of Ramsdale's style, and if you crudely take Ederson (back-passing) and Pickford (big ball) as the two extremes of the spectrum, Ramsdale would be closer to the latter, but his footwork - both in terms of the accuracy of the long passes shown in the graph, as well as decision-making and consistency in short passes -would be more trustworthy than Pickford.
(Data taken from fbref)
According to an article in The Athletic, the biggest difference between the Arsenal's organization and last year's is the source of the chances created.Tierney played an important role in the organization last year, and his left side was naturally the main source of the offensive attack (38% left, 33% center), and the one-dimensional set up prevented the entire stadium from being utilized as well as it could have been.This year's source of the offensive attack is -29% on the left and 48% in the center.
