Arsenal: Growing into games cause for concern?

Arsenal have scored 19 goals in the Premier League through eight games, but only five have come in the first half. Does manager Unai Emery have a problem?

Do Arsenal grow into games? Since trailing Manchester City 1-0 at halftime on the opening weekend, the Gunners have been drawing at the break in their last seven Premier League games. Three in a row — Newcastle, Everton and Watford — were 0-0.

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The City goal gives Arsenal a minus-1 goal difference in first halves, with five goals for and six against. But in second halves, they have outscored their opposition 14-4. How can we explain this disparity?

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Are teams having a go at the ‘old’ Arsenal? Unai Emery’s men have surrendered more goals in the first half, supporting this notion. But they have conceded more shots, and shots on target, in second halves. In fact, five of the first eight opponents have been more active after the break, even if the goal tallies suggest otherwise.

The statistics portray wasteful opposition. Other than City and Chelsea (the only defeats), opponents have totalled 76 shots, 25 on target, and five goals. And the north London outfit actually allow more shots per game than they take.

But look back at goals allowed: six in the first half and four in the second. This is too evenly distributed across halves to be an issue of finishing. No, the Gunners’ plus-9 goal differential in the league is not a glass-half-empty product of wasteful opposition. Instead, it only highlights the gulf in class. The issue is not one of scoring goals; it’s scoring goals in the first half.

The eye test tells us Arsenal grow into games. The statistics confirm this, but offer conflicting conclusions. The bitter pill would be that they are in their position in the table because that is precisely how good or bad they actually are. The teams above are better, the teams around are dangerous, and the teams below should be beaten.

Occam’s Razor, however, points to a positive alternative: Fitness. Emery’s Gunners weather the storm, wear teams down, and wrestle the game away with clinical finishing in the latter stages. They grind out results, surprisingly enough.

The manager made fitness a priority in the preseason: his players had to be in shape before they could learn the system. We’ve discussed it before in these pages. The players have commented on how they are in the best shape of their lives, how they have been able to outlast the opposition.

Try looking at the results through this lens: it is the opposition who are getting tired, for once; it is the opposition losing focus, making mistakes, beating themselves. It must feel absolutely brilliant to be on the other side of that beating. Sure is a pleasure to watch.