Arsenal had a terrible weekend in the Premier League, and that is too obvious. The home defeat to Bournemouth along with Manchester City's victory over Chelsea meant that the Premier League title this season became unpredictable again. But Arsenal's performance was even more alarming.
Although coach Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth played quite good football, Mikel Arteta's team mainly relied on set pieces. The total number of goals expected from opening balls was only 0.18, clearly reflecting that Arsenal created very few opportunities.
Of course, focusing on set pieces is the theme throughout The Gunners' campaign. Arteta's team has been very proficient in this, creating opportunities and scoring more goals than any other team from such situations. But this is an example showing that focusing too much on that can harm their own development momentum.
Another notable point is Arsenal's way of organizing set pieces. Raising the defense in dead balls in the midfield area used to be effective, especially when Declan Rice possessed the ability to distribute quality balls. However, in the recent match, this tactic no longer brought the expected effect.
According to statistics, Arsenal controlled the ball for 26 minutes and 48 seconds when the ball was not rolling. 6 minutes for corner kicks is understandable, but spending up to 7 minutes with throw-ins shows that the pace of the match is significantly affected.
Arsenal seems to understand their strengths. After all, that is the formula that helped them rise to the top of the Premier League table. However, this approach makes the match disjointed - something that has been repeated many times and this match is no exception. The London team often has difficulty creating chances from live ball situations.
In the top 6 Premier League teams, Arsenal is a noteworthy case when the number of matches with total expected goals (xG) from live ball is only 0.3 or lower, which is more than the total number of similar matches of Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea combined.
This is an unusual statistic for a team leading the rankings. In fact, in the last 8 seasons, the Premier League champion has always been in the top two in terms of creativity in attack. Currently, Arsenal is only ranked sixth in this index, even behind Brighton.
Is that really important? Maybe not, if they defeat Man City in the next round. Even if the goal comes from set pieces, Arsenal has more grounds to defend their playing style.
However, the above figures partly explain why the coherence in their playing style is having problems. While Man City has the ability to create stable scoring streaks, Arsenal is more dependent on individual moments of brilliance.
This is extremely disappointing. It's like a strong punch in the face. The important thing now is how we will react.
I must praise what Bournemouth has done, because it is no coincidence that they have gone through 11 consecutive matches without losing. But today we played a match with many strange things" - Arteta said after the defeat to Bournemouth.
