Massive Attack (Questions)

The best-case scenario for Arsenal’s domestic season now is to remain on an island in 2nd place. Arsenal have been here before, in 2000-01, Manchester United were officially crowned champions over Easter weekend. The Gunners consolidated, reflected, had a busy summer and won the Double the next season. Liverpool finished last season on an island in 3rd and were able to do something similar for 2024/25.

Undoubtedly it is an anti-climactic scenario but sometimes it can do a team some good to have time and space to evaluate the next steps. Clearly, a lot of Arsenal’s current issues exist at the top end of the field. Much of that is driven by injury but not all of it. Even with a full complement of attackers, it is clear the focus of the summer will be on adding to the attack.

If, like me, you are addicted to hopium, you would infer Arsenal’s inaction in January as a tacit acknowledgment that Arsenal will major on attacking recruitment this summer and the inaction in January was partially about not jeopardising those plans. But when Arsenal recruit for the attack, what kind of questions are they trying to answer? What will it tell us about how Arteta sees the future of Arsenal’s frontline? Here are three areas I am curious about.

Can we create from the left eight?
Few positions in this Arsenal team have inspired more discussion than ‘left eight.’ And the biggest reason for that is that, as fans, we probably still don’t entirely understand the function of the role in Arteta’s Arsenal. Granit Xhaka was deployed there first, then Kai Havertz was purchased for the role but accidentally became important as a centre-forward.

Then Mikel Merino was purchased for the position but due to a mixture of injury to himself and others and a lengthy adaption period, we still don’t have a clear idea of how this role operates. We have a notion because Arteta has preferred tall players who are good in the air and win lots of duels. Declan Rice spent the lion’s share of last season there.

But it is fair to say that we haven’t really seen it in action yet as intended. If Arsenal buy a shiny new striker (which they really should, they don’t just have a quality gap there but, with Jesus’ injury, they have a numbers gap going into next season as it stands), maybe Havertz will revert to the role on occasion? Maybe new striker + Havertz as an 8 gives Arsenal that little bit of extra threat they miss even with a full ensemble.

But, as Andrew and James (£) have written this week, Martin Odegaard has become a single point of failure as a dedicated artisan presence in the Arsenal team. The absence of Bukayo Saka, himself an elite chance creator, has exacerbated this.

Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira were both released from the squad last summer, which whittled down Arsenal’s deputy creative options but it is clear Arteta didn’t really favour either player in the fabled ‘left eight’ role. Could Arsenal address this in the market and have another ball player to Odegaard’s left to induce greater creativity?

Will Merino / Havertz really manage to bring the duel winning second striker role to life to give Arsenal greater threat? Would then another left winger have a more creative, chance generating profile to boost Arsenal’s creative juice? It’s a key area and one that doesn’t seem to have been fully realised in Arteta’s Arsenal yet.

Central threat
Arsenal filter much of their attack down their right side. This makes a lot of sense because it is where their best player operates. It would be ludicrous to do anything other than centre your best attacker as often as possible. Liverpool tolerate Trent Alexander Arnold’s often shonky defending not just because of his ability on the ball but because he is a crucial port to their best attacker.

However, Arsenal also need to introduce greater variety and one thing they don’t do enough of is generate threat from more central areas. Per FBRef, Arsenal rank 9th in the league for shots per 90 and 8th in the league for XG per 90. Per WhoScored, Arsenal are 15th in the league for shots from outside the penalty area.

Shot selection matters, of course. Liverpool are eighth for shots from outside the area, randomly banging the ball at goal from range isn’t a laudable tactic. Arsenal are top of the division for shots from inside the six yard box but 10th for shots inside the penalty area. Liverpool top the latter statistic, taking over 2 more shots per 90 from inside the area and that feels a little more revealing.

In essence, Arsenal try to go around the defensive block before re-entering at the final phase. That is a good tactic but it feels a lot like Arsenal’s only tactic on occasion. I think some of Arsenal’s known striker targets acknowledge this too. Benjamin Sesko averages just over two shots per 90 over the last two seasons in the Bundesliga with an average range of 14.7 yards from goal.

I am far from an expert on the player but his highlight reels do seem to feature quite a lot of ‘larruping the ball at goal quite hard’ which is a quality Arsenal don’t possess a great deal of. Ollie Watkins averages just over three shots per 90 over the last two seasons at an average distance of 12.4 yards.

Arsenal have bid for two strikers who take a lot of shots rom roughly penalty spot range, both also stretch defences in behind with runs in the channels. Again, I am cautiously optimistic that this illustrates Arteta’s awareness of where variety is required in attack. There has to be a new striker this summer and they have to both offer running in behind and to be willing to pull the trigger from central positions.

Starboy Mk II
How Arsenal chisel Odegaard, Saka and Nwaneri into the same team is an intriguing and exciting question for the near future. Because Nwaneri’s best position looks to be the same as Bukayo Saka’s. Equally, he could develop into Martin Odegaard’s position. Either way, if Nwaneri continues to develop at his current trajectory, that conundrum is hurtling down the track towards Mikel Arteta.

Could Saka be deployed on the left? Could Odegaard play deeper? Could he shift across to left eight? Could Nwaneri operate on the left? All these questions are on the table. The best case for Arsenal is that Nwaneri develops into an elite 9, that is where Arsenal are carrying a gap (even if they sign a striker as we expect this summer, Gabriel Jesus is hardly getting another contract).

That would also snugly fit Saka, Odegaard and Nwaneri in the same team. The latter also possesses that ‘larrup the ball firmly at goal’ gene not shared by enough Arsenal attackers. However, as the Supremes sang, You Can’t Hurry Love or, in this case, you can’t force players to develop into certain positions just because it’s convenient. How these three planets orbit one another is a really intriguing one for the future and, the truth is, there are too many unknowns at the moment, the situation will need to play out a little before firm decisions can be made.

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