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Arteta has overcoached Arsenal: Risk-averse tactics threaten to derail title bid
Analysis
Watching Arsenal attack in open play is, at times, a chore.
The team’s insistence on attacking slowly and deliberately seems to have taken away its top players’ flair.
Out of Arsenal’s 42 goals scored in 23 Premier League matches, just 22 have come from open play, while 13 have come from set pieces. They have also scored three penalties and benefitted from four own goals.
The 22 open-play goals are fewer than the likes of 13th-placed Bournemouth and eighth-placed Brentford (24 open-play goals each).
Like many big teams, Arsenal struggle to break down low blocks, but their approach in the final third does them no favours.
Rather than passing the ball quickly to players making off-ball runs, Arsenal players seem to prefer — or are instructed to — play in front of opposing back lines.
That helps the team control games, but it makes scoring goals much more difficult because there is hardly any space for the attackers.
In short, Arteta's open-play tactics do not suit his players' strengths.
A decline in production
The star players’ end product numbers illustrate the issue.
If Bukayo Saka scores at his rate of 0.23 goals per 90 minutes in the remaining 15 Premier League matches, he’ll end up with seven goals. That’s one more than last season's total, and he missed 13 games.
STATS
Bukayo Saka
F (R)
Arsenal
Bukayo Saka
F (R)
Arsenal
Before that, Saka went three straight seasons with at least 10 league goals, peaking at 16 in 2023/24.
Martin Odegaard’s goalscoring rate has dropped since his peak of 15 goals (0.43 per 90 minutes) in 2022/23. This season, it’s at 0.09 goals per 90 minutes, which is the joint-lowest of his career, level with his season on loan at Heerenveen in 2017/18.
Instead of positioning himself on the edge of the penalty are and having him make runs into the box, he tends to drop back near the center backs and aid the build-up play.
STATS
Martin Ødegaard
M, AM (C)
Arsenal
Martin Ødegaard
M, AM (C)
Arsenal
Martin Zubimendi tends to make runs ahead of Odegaard despite the summer signing having been brought in as a defensive midfielder. The Spaniard has shown goalscoring ability with four goals in all competitions this season, but he has never had a goalscoring season close to Odegaard’s 2022/23.
It is also worth noting that in terms of goals scored each season, Arsenal’s attack declined from 91 in 2023/24 to 69 in 2024/25, and the club is on pace for 69 goals once again this season.
The difference in the Champions League
Perhaps ironically, Arsenal have seemed to have it easier in the Champions League compared to the Premier League.
It may have to do with the Gunners’ average share of possession. Arsenal averages 58 percent of possession in the league, but it dips to 52.9 percent in Europe.
That reflects how Arsenal’s opponents in Europe are more willing to attack, which opens up space for Arteta’s side to exploit.
Pacy left-winger Gabriel Martinelli’s production is emblematic of the difference. He has one goal in 17 Premier League appearances, but he has scored five times in six Champions League games.
STATS
Gabriel Martinelli
F, AM (L)
Arsenal
Gabriel Martinelli
F, AM (L)
Arsenal
His game-sealing goal in the 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich was a prime example of what he excels at. He latched onto a lofted through ball, separated from his defender, got past an onrushing Manuel Neuer, and found the open net.
In the Premier League, teams rarely afford Arsenal enough space to try through balls.
Arsenal’s 4-1 league victory over Aston Villa played out similarly to an Arsenal Champions League match, but that was an exception. As Villa became more desperate as the game went on, Arsenal had an easier time scoring, to the tune of three goals in the second half.
Arsenal are currently averaging less than one open-play goal per game. Last season’s champions, Liverpool, scored 66 open-play goals. The year before, champions Manchester City scored 69 goals from open play — the same amount of total goals the Gunners are currently on pace for.
Arteta’s approach has kept Arsenal atop the table for most of the season, but it remains to be seen if the Gunners can maintain that spot while using this slow, set-piece-oriented style of play.
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