Arsenal: Goals and assists cloud Henrikh Mkhitaryan truth

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored a goal and assisted another in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Watford on Sunday. But such contributions do cloud the truth of his toils somewhat. Here, I explain the dichotomy of the Armenian.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan had an odd game on Sunday. In fairness, the entirety of the match was a little odd: Arsenal played some wonderful football, allied by some rather vulnerable, nervous defending; Watford pressed their way into the ascendancy, only to fail to ever take advantage of such control. There was a weird feeling around the Emirates, and it made its way onto the pitch and into the performance of Mkhitaryan.

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After 58 minutes, I was extremely concerned. Loose passes, poor touches, a lack of intensity whenever he received the ball. It was not a good display by any stretch of the imagination. And yet, 20 minutes later, I was extolling his virtues.

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The first piece of brilliance came in the 59th minute. Receiving the ball midway through the pitch with time to turn and space to drive into, Mkhitaryan dribbled towards the exposed Watford defence, waited for the opportune moment and angle to release the pass, surveyed his options, before sliding a lovely, cute through pass into the path of the searing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who did the rest.

Then, 20 minutes later, it was Mkhitaryan who polished off the win. After Mesut Ozil’s drilled cross caused havoc in the penalty area, Mkhitaryan peeled into space just behind the penalty spot, waited for Aubameyang to tee him up, and slammed his finish through Orestis Karnezis who should have done far better to repel the strike.

But Mkhitaryan did not play at a level that is ‘deserving’ of a goal and an assist. He completed just 72% of his passes, which is the worst of all outfield players on the pitch other than Troy Deeney, he was lost possession four times, a figure bettered by only Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Jose Holebas, and completed neither of his two dribble attempts, only Sead Kolasinac, of player who attempted a dribble, also failed to complete at least one. This was a poor offensive performance by Mkhitaryan, even with the goal and assist.

Having said that, defensively, he was brilliantly busy. He attempted the most tackles in the team, winning three from five, made more blocks than any player in the team, and made one interception and one clearance to boot. They are impressive stats for a defender, not a winger, proof of the diligence of his work.

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And this is the dichotomy of Mkhitaryan. A busy, industrious individual who fails to provide consistent attacking production until he suddenly clicks into gear. It doesn’t really make sense. It’s extremely frustrating. But it’s successful. So, I guess, long may it continue.