In the defeat to Man United, Arsenal spent most of their time chasing their opponents to find an equalizer. They did not score any goals from opening balls. Although set pieces were still a sharp weapon, for a team leading the Premier League, this seems unusual when they have countless strikers in their hands.
If they ignore goals scored from set pieces, Arsenal and Chelsea are ranked 7th in the Premier League after 23 rounds (22 goals). Ranked above them are teams such as Manchester City (36), Liverpool (28), Manchester United (26), Aston Villa (24), Bournemouth (24) and Brentford (24).
Looking at the success of big teams in England and the Champions League in recent years, the general formula leading to victory is to own a deep squad, and reserve players can also shine at any time. In the match against Man United, Mikel Arteta caused a shock when he substituted 4 people at the same time in the 57th minute.
This will not be possible in the professional football world before 2020 (before the pandemic). It shows that Arsenal has a very good depth, but even when replacing the 5th player not long after, they still cannot keep 1 point at home.
Arsenal does not have an excellent striker. Kai Havertz is constantly injured, Gabriel Jesus has just returned and Viktor Gyokeres has not yet caught up. They can still win the championship without too much need for goals from these 3 center forwards. However, few teams that have won the Premier League in the past do not need good strikers.
Since the beginning of the season, who has been the best striker of Arsenal? If only counting the numbers, Leandro Trossard is the one with the best statistics (5 goals and 4 assists). However, the Belgian striker has never been considered an excellent main attacker or the leader of Arsenal's entire attacking system like Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane...
If to choose someone capable of leading The Gunners' attack, it should be Bukayo Saka or Martin Odegaard. In the two 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons, Saka had 25 G/A. Last season, he suffered many injuries and this number is only 16. This season, Saka only has 7. Odegaard also suffered a similar decline when the numbers in the same period were 22, 18, 11 and 4 respectively.
At the peak of their form, Arsenal's right wing was very strong when Saka and Odegaard played well together. Mikel Arteta also arranged for Odegaard to play sideways in a 3-midfielder formation to support Saka more. Currently, after different injuries, this pair no longer maintains their form, sometimes simply cannot play together in the starting lineup.
In history, no Premier League team has ever owned a player with such a low number of goals and assists as Trossard today. The player with the lowest G/A is Kevin De Bruyne (18) in the Man City campaign to win the championship in the 2020-2021 season. In that season, De Bruyne only had 6 goals but had 12 assists, showing great support for his teammates.
That year, Kevin De Bruyne won the PFA Player of the Year award. With the current form of Arsenal players, even if they win the Premier League, it is difficult to find an outstanding individual to the point of receiving this individual award.
Arsenal is having difficulty finding a goal header from open ball situations. They really need Kai Havertz to return soon with the best physical foundation. Since the beginning of the season, the German striker has only started 1 match in the Premier League, which was a minimal win against Man United on the opening day, followed by continuous injuries. Havertz has also only made 2 appearances in cup tournaments and has not set a regular return date.
If they cannot have a player capable of leading, Arteta really needs cases like Havertz to diversify more options. If this situation lasts for a few more weeks, the consequences may be extremely unpredictable.
