Arsenal and Nicolas Pepe: Why the attack, not just the defence, needs help

Despite conceding 51 goals last season, Arsenal are set to spend £72 million on winger, Nicolas Pepe. But the attack, and not just the defence, needs help too. Here’s why.

Arsenal conceded 51 goals last season. Of teams that finished in the top half of the table, only Manchester United and West Ham United conceded more. Newcastle United, who ended the season in 13th, conceded three fewer. Whatever you slice it, the Gunners were horribly poor defensively last season.

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Meanwhile, they scored 73 goals, a figure bettered by only Liverpool and Manchester City. They also notched seven goals in a Europa League semi-final and were routinely bailed out by their attack. Goals, seemingly, were not their problem.

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So why is the club now spending a club-record £72 million on a new winger? It was revealed at the weekend that the Gunners have agreed on a staggered £72 million payment structure with French side Lille for starring winger Nicolas Pepe, who has been touted for a major European move all summer. It is a massive transfer, one that blows the majority of the budget on an attacking player. Arsenal are undoubtedly making their move, and it illustrates their belief that the wing is their greatest need.

Given the aforementioned numbers of their attacking and defensive success last season, that may seem a little odd. Some might think what type of centre-back £72 million could buy this summer. But despite the surface-level statistics, there were concerning, underlying trends with the attack last season that will come back to bite the team next season. There were unsustainable elements that must be fixed.

Primarily, these stemmed from the over-reliance on the strikers, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. In the Premier League, either Lacazette or Aubameyang failed to score in 16 matches. Arsenal scored 1.19 goals per game in those matches and won just a quarter of them. At least one scored in 22, where the team scored 2.57 goals per game and won 77% of them. Moreover, Arsenal ranked 12th in the Premier League for shots per game with 12.3, seventh in shots on target per game, and 12th in successful dribbles per game.

These statistics paint a very clear picture, one that is supported by the eye test: the way that Arsenal scored goals last season is unsustainable. If they play in the same manner next season, they will not be the third-highest scoring team in the Premier League. And so, change — and specifically, an injection of pace, directness and dribbling ability on the wings — is required.

That change is to bring in a player who completed the seventh-most dribbles per 90 minutes in Ligue 1, of players who played more than 2000 minutes, the only individual to have 20-plus goals and 10-plus assists in a top-five European league not named Lionel Messi, and creates 1.9 chances per 90 minutes.

Yes, Arsenal needed — and still need — help in defence. And yes, at this point, the centre-back and left-back positions are extremely concerning. But the attack also needed bolstering, despite the surface-level numbers, and that is precisely what Pepe will do.