One shot on target at Forest - the tactical tweak Arsenal need to unlock goals

Arsenal managed a narrow victory against Nottingham Forest on Sunday. They won 1-0 at the City Ground in what was a poor watch. It took 80 minutes for the Gunners to break the tie, as Noni Madueke scored after coming off the bench at half-time for Eberechi Eze.

The biggest concern on Sunday was simply the lack of attacking production. Arsenal had almost 74% possession against Forest, but managed to record just one shot on target and five fewer shots than their opponents.

You could blame it on the fact that Oliver Glasner's Forest play a low block with a counter-attacking style; however, it's not just been a problem this week. Arsenal have scored 11 goals in seven Premier League games this season, which is eight fewer than Man City and 12 fewer than top scorers Brighton.

There shouldn't be an excuse either, because it's not like Mikel Arteta has a lack of attacking talent at his disposal. With the likes of Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres, he has players capable of scoring; they just aren't getting the quality chances.

Mikel Arteta needs to make this simple change

The game at Forest was evidence of how Arsenal have played for the majority of the season. Most of the Gunners' attacking moves came down either wing. Looking at the Gunners' heatmap (WhoScored.com), there's an empty space right where the striker should be.

Arsenal's moves came down both wings when breaking into the box, and didn't break into the box down the middle of the pitch once. The issue with this is, it relies on the wingers getting quality crosses into the box to get the striker involved at all. If Arteta wants his side to provide more of a goal threat, then he needs to find ways to play down the centre of the pitch more frequently.

With Martin Odegaard as a catalyst, Arsenal could try to break through the middle with quality balls in behind. Whether it's Havertz or Gyokeres, they should be making positive runs through, allowing the likes of Odegaard to send the ball through and give them quality chances to get shots on target.

It's not a case of stop playing down the wing, but there needs to be more variation, as at the moment, the attack is too predictable, and teams will simply plan for it, making it very difficult for Arsenal to make an impact going forward - which is exactly what we saw against Forest. It's a simple fix; Arteta just needs to bite the bullet and make it.

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