Arsenal: The difference Henrikh Mkhitaryan would have made

In the ongoing search for answers as to how Arsenal could look that terrible – again – one theory is that Henrikh Mkhitaryan would have made a difference.

There were a lot of things that went wrong against Manchester City. The saddest part is, Arsenal were stride for stride with the baby blues for most of the first half. It took a colossal mistake from Shkodran Mustafi to give City the chance that they needed, and they don’t need hundred of chances to score. They know how to finish.

It was the attack that really left the Gunners looking flat. Just like against Tottenham, the defense wasn’t nearly as bad as the stale, paltry attack. When you constantly subject a defense of any quality to this kind of assault, this is always going to be the result.

So what could have made the attack better? Well, some have hypothesized that the absence of Henrikh Mkhitaryan was a problem. The attack was down to Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, plus whoever could find their way into the attacking theater from the midfield.

it was a clear result of not having enough attacking force, and that is where the Mkhitaryan absence really comes into question. He was cup-tied, having made a substitute appearance for Manchester United and was unavailable for the match.

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As such, Ozil didn’t have his creative mate there with him, and with both Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey sitting deeper, there was pure isolation that, hypothetically, could have been alleviated by Mkhitaryan.

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But consider how little time Arsenal spent in attacking position. Take a look at the side-by-side heat maps and notice where Arsenal spent the majority of their time – right in front of their own goal. They have a dead zone in the City box because they had zero penetration to get in there.

In that sense, Mkhitaryan may have made things worse, because either Wilshere or Ramsey would have had to sit out and both of them were heavily involved on the defensive side of things and less so getting forward.

Then again, the problem was getting forward.

It’s hard to say what different Mkhitaryan would have made. Chances are we would have benefited from a few more chances, but one guy isn’t enough to change a game that got that lopsided. Not by a long shot.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Manchester City

I guess we will find out come Thursday when we have to play the juggernaut again. Aren’t we all looking forward to that…

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