After a damaging defeat at home to West Ham, Arsenal have come under fire.
Saturday’s setback dealt a potentially decisive blow to their title hopes, with Liverpool’s win over Manchester City on Sunday putting them 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League.
The limp manner of the 1-0 loss to West Ham has added to the doom and gloom at Emirates Stadium. Arsenal had 68 per cent possession and 20 shots, but just two of those were on target.
Blunt attacking displays have been an issue for the Gunners all season and in 11 of their 26 League games they have scored one goal or less.
Part of the issue, according to Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, has been Arsenal’s “obsession” with set-pieces.
“Arsenal have become quite rigid, they’ve become quite turgid at times to watch,” Neville said over the weekend.
“This obsession with set-pieces, which was overtaking their whole game, exacerbated by this presence of the set-piece coach on the touchline which puts more focus on set-pieces. It’s like… no. The freedom’s gone a little bit from them.”
It is not the first time that Arsenal have been criticised for their use of set-pieces.
Last season, they finished top of the Premier League for set-piece goals after scoring 20 of them. This season, they currently sit fourth with 10.
Arsenal have made set-pieces a valuable weapon, but there are far greater factors that have damaged their attack this season.
In truth, the West Ham defeat just underlined how much of a gamble it was for the club not to sign a forward in January.
Starved of four forwards through injury, Arsenal’s attack lacks a cutting edge and the bench has no bite either.
Needing a goal against West Ham, Arteta’s first two substitutions were bringing on a couple of left-backs in Myles Lewis-Skelly and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Injuries in attack have hit Arsenal hard all season. Martin Odegaard missed three months after injuring his ankle in September. Bukayo Saka has not played since December after tearing his hamstring. Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz will not feature again this season.
Neville is right, Arsenal have “become quite turgid at times to watch”, but that is because an attack that scored 114 goals in 2024 (Arsenal’s best scoring rate for more than 60 years) has been decimated by injury.
When fit, this Arsenal attack can be lethal. Indeed, at the start of this month they beat Manchester City 5-1. All five goals were from open play.
Arsenal’s biggest failure has not been adding depth to their attack, both last summer and in January.
Injuries have exposed that and, if anything is to be learned from this season, it is that Arsenal need more firepower, not that they should spend less time on set-pieces.
Adding more variety to Arsenal’s attack is key and clearly a right-side bias has developed over the years due to the form of Odegaard and Saka.
This season, 45 per cent of their attacks have come down the right flank - which is more than any other side.
It has, at times, made Arsenal more predictable and easier to stifle, which is why investment this summer feels key.
Arsenal have developed into serial title contenders under Arteta, but they have not got over the line yet.
To do that, they need more at the top end of pitch and this summer is the moment to strike.
