FFScout: Team guide to Arsenal
Fantasy Football Scout’s Editor Neale is known for his expert Team News articles, tweets and live streams. He has taken a look at the Gunners ahead of the new season in his team guide to Arsenal.
With Gameweek 1 less than a week away the guys at Fantasy Football Scout are profiling all 20 Premier League teams. Neale has taken a dive in to Arsenal.
LAST SEASON: ATTACK
| Total | Rank v other Premier League clubs | |
| Goals scored | 61 | 6th |
| Shots | 589 | 4th |
| Shots in the box | 372 | 4th |
| Shots on target | 194 | 4th |
| Big chances | 69 | 8th |
| Expected goals (xG) | 69.16 | 4th |
Arsenal were Champions League material for much of 2021/22 when it came to goal threat but there is a sense that there is still more to come: they had the worst xG delta (-8.16) and second-worst goal conversion (10.4%) of any side who finished in the top half last season.
Perhaps the acquisition of Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) can help remedy that wastefulness. He’s had a flying start to life at Arsenal in pre-season, although it should be noted that he too has a bit of a profligate track record.
LAST SEASON: DEFENCE
| Total | Rank v other Premier League clubs | |
| Goals conceded | 48 | 8th |
| Clean sheets | 13 | 5th |
| Shots conceded | 425 | 4th |
| Shots in the box conceded | 263 | 4th |
| Shots on target conceded | 147 | 7th |
| Big chances conceded | 67 | =8th |
| Expected goals conceded (xGC) | 51.83 | 7th |
Wobbly defensive periods bookended last season, with no clean sheets arriving in the opening three Gameweeks or from Gameweeks 31-38
In between, Arsenal racked up an impressive 13 shut-outs in 25 matches.
Keeping together a settled back four was one contributing factor: Takehiro Tomiyasu(£4.5m), Ben White (£4.5m) and Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.0m) started every fixture together from Gameweeks 4-18, with eight clean sheets arriving in this period alone. It was no coincidence that Arsenal’s defensive numbers worsened when Tomiyasu’s fitness issues began earlier this year.
But Aaron Ramsdale‘s (£5.0m) displays were also worthy of note. Earning rave reviews after his initial debut, he had fallen out of form somewhat by the time we reached the end of 2021/22.
Team guide to Arsenal: OPENING FIXTURES
Arsenal are actually top of our Season Ticker for fixture difficulty in the first eight Gameweeks, meeting only one of last season’s top seven in that time – and even that is a Manchester United side who struggled for clean sheets in 2021/22. Even with the strides made in pre-season under Erik ten Hag, question marks remain about their defence.
Two newly-promoted outfits – Bournemouth and Fulham – come in…
To read the rest of this article click here
