Arsenal: Alex Iwobi Becoming The Knife In The Back

Arsenal’s attack is incredibly lopsided, as in there is little debate where the ball will come from most of the time. All the more beneficial for Alex Iwobi.

Arsenal’s attack clicked on all cylinders against Watford. Everyone looked good. On the stat sheet, it was Alex Iwobi who was one of the brightest. He tallied a goal and struck the crossbar on another. The 19 year old is starting to look like something special.

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However, it might not be down to sheer talent alone. Arsenal is gearing up their offense in such a way that it has become incredibly lopsided. Consider this heatmap from WhoScored.com. When checking the influence of Mohamed Elneny, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, the three who made this Arsenal attack function, the areas of influence are incredibly obvious.

349 of Arsenal’s touches came from a very strong majority on the right side. That is just where the ball ends up more times than not. Add in Hector Bellerin, a chief contributor on the day as well, and that total jumps to 437 touches, all from the mid-to-right side of the pitch.

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On the surface, that may seem like a negative. The attack is concentrated on one area and therefore easy to deal with. Well, not so much. For starters, there is enough creativity and speed to handle every bit of defensive attention. In one particular progression, the four right siders combined, distributing the ball amongst themselves on the edge of the box. They were unstoppable.

Sucking the defenses attention away like that frees up space. However, when it comes to Arsenal’s attack, who else is left? Coquelin stays at home. Welbeck stays front and center. Monreal doesn’t get forward as much. It all falls on Alex Iwobi. The young Nigerian often sits isolated on the left hand side.

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While the defense is mesmerized by the movement on the right, Iwobi has the ability to whittle his way into a perfect position to be a knife in the back of the opponent. Consider the ball that found Iwobi, which he then turned on to the crossbar. No one closed him down. He was by himself because so much attention has to be placed on the other side of the pitch.

There is nothing opposing teams can do about this. They can’t dedicate more than a single defender to watch Iwobi, and even then, chances are the right side will create so much havoc that reinforcements are needed. It is such a fine, balanced attack in that it is so drastically unbalanced. Moving Alexis to the right may have been more than just an attempt to free up room for Iwobi. It may have been a strategic choice.

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Alex Iwobi has a perfect system set up for him at Arsenal. So long as that trio/quad of players on the opposite side of the pitch keep intertwining and plaguing opposing defenses, he may find life rather easy. All the more beneficial for Arsenal.