In the 32nd round of the Premier League, Arsenal ranked 16th in accuracy in passes in their own half (88.8%) but the expected goals from opening balls only reached 0.18. Except for Viktor Gyokeres' successful penalty kick, the number of chances considered to be noteworthy for Arsenal only came from the situation where the Swedish striker had a chance at the end of the match, besides 2 shots from outside the penalty area that were not too dangerous by Declan Rice.
Arsenal's performance against Bournemouth is a combination of 3 previous matches against Sporting Lisbon, Southampton and Manchester City. The Gunners' playing style is quite slow at Jose Alvalade, many mistakes at St. Mary and easily restrained at Wembley. In combination, that is their performance at the Emirates last weekend.
In the match against Bournemouth, Arteta shared that he heard in the stands many fans wanting the team to break through to play offensively. Although he understands that very well, most of the time on the field, the players turn their faces towards the home team's goal, rather than looking at the opponent.
Arsenal's strikers rarely break into the space behind the defense when their teammates have the ball. Even when they do not receive passes from the defense, the "Gunners'" attacking stars do not have runs to pull in the opponent's defenders. This is a key factor to create more space. They lack that free movement, making attacks predictable.
Arsenal had a few opportunities to cause difficulties for Bournemouth before the opponent's defense could reorganize. However, the fact that they did not take advantage of the opportunity reflects the boring counter-attacking style throughout the season.
Arteta's team ranked 9th in the Premier League in terms of total quick counter-attacks (32) and tied for 6th in the number of goals from those quick counter-attacks (4). Manchester City ranked 4th in the number of quick counter-attacks (41) and topped in the number of goals from those situations (9) despite being the slowest team in the league in building their playing style.
Arsenal is one of the teams that is still patient with the way of holding the ball to control. Many clubs have switched to a direct playing style with few passes this season. Meanwhile, teams like Man City and Chelsea continue to perform long passing combinations.
A complete change in playing style is unlikely to happen at the end of the season, but playing at high speed does not always mean playing directly. Arsenal, when in high form, focused on making short, quick passes. Players in all positions participated in this common playing style with goalkeepers and defenders quickly bringing the ball to midfield. However, Arsenal's passes from the back line at this time proved to be much less effective.
Arsenal is currently ranked 3rd from the bottom, only ahead of West Ham and Bournemouth in the number of direct passes breaking the opponent's defense. One of the reasons for this is that teams do not regularly put enough pressure on The Gunners as Bournemouth did last week. Therefore, Arteta's team has more time to hold the ball. However, because of this, they deploy the old playing style and do not show risk.
Arsenal once scored many goals with quick passes and one-touch situations between satellites, but now that has disappeared.
One of the reasons for the current lack of creativity is that some key players in the squad are injured. However, the rest, when playing regularly, no longer maintain as much creativity as before.
Martin Odegaard only played 37.4% of Arsenal's minutes in the Premier League this season but still ranked 4th in the team in terms of the number of chances created from open balls (28). To be easy to imagine, the top 3 leaders are Bukayo Saka (44), Declan Rice (35), Leandro Trossard (30). Behind Odegaard is Jurrien Timber (26).
Martin Odegaard (1.34) ranked 2nd, only behind Rayan Cherki of Man City (1.43) in the number of crosses per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season. Mikel Merino ranked 4th with 0.99 and Eberechi Eze ranked 9th with 0.76.
The absence of all 3 midfielders has caused Arsenal many losses since the beginning of 2026, especially when looking at Cherki's performances for Man City recently. The French midfielder has become the first player since Dimitri Payet to have more than 10 assists in his first season playing in the Premier League.
Arsenal needs more moments like Cherki's, or the willingness to finish as soon as there is an opportunity like Eze. Not only in the coming weeks, they need to do that this weekend at the Etihad.
