Arsenal have one glaring weakness despite their ‘invincible’ start

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Robin Bairner | Chief Editor

Arsenal have started the season looking virtually unbeatable despite leaving themselves short in one position.

A perfect start to the season from Mikel Arteta’s side has masked what may become their Achilles heel in the months ahead.

The Gunners had the luxury of attacking the transfer market this summer from a position of strength. Not only were they coming off the back of winning the league for the first time in 20 years, but all of their major rivals also changed manager.

While Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool were embarking on new projects, Arsenal were able to build from a base long since constructed by Arteta and sporting director Andrea Berta.

A total of €227 million was spent, yet the Gunners had the luxury of tweaking and improving rather than overhauling. The focus was not on large-scale investment, it was on bolstering what was already there. To that end, Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa and Christos Tzolis arrived.

And as Arsenal’s rivals have predictably looked rusty at the start of the season, Arteta’s side have looked invincible.

The narrative has switched from ‘can they win the title again?’ to ‘who can possibly stop them?’

Arsenal’s summer spending has left one glaring weakness

Arsenal’s transfer business over the past couple of months leaves them looking stronger than ever. Every area of the park is bristling with talent. Except one.

The business that the Gunners conducted this summer has left them notably short at left wing.

Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard were the club’s two biggest sales of the summer, with the Brazilian’s €70m fee to Al-Hilal accounting for more than half of the champions’ total transfer income.

Compared

Gabriel Martinelli

F, M (L)

Al-Hilal

Gabriel Martinelli

F, M (L)

Al-Hilal

VS

Christos Tzolis

F, M, AM (L)

Arsenal

Christos Tzolis

F, M, AM (L)

Arsenal

€36.2M	ETV	€23.9M
€32.6M - €39.8M	ETV Range	€21.5M - €26.3M
25 years old (18 Jun, 2001)	Age	24 years old (30 Jan, 2002)
Brazil	Nationality	Greece

But while these moves were lucrative, they have left Arteta’s options weak in that particular area of the field, according to SciSports, which highlights the left wing as an obvious source of weakness.

Rating players on its SciSkill metric, which is calculated using hundreds of in-game data points, SciSports shows that this is clearly the poorest area of the team.

Vinicius Jr and Julian Alvarez were targeted for that zone even following the arrival of Tzolis, who appears to have become the starter by default rather than by design. His comparative weakness to Arsenal’s other starters is made obvious by his SciSkill rating of just 91.9.

While this is improving, none of Arteta’s other starters dip below 110. The gulf is enormous.

Arsenal already have their sights set on a solution

If Arsenal are going into this season notably short on the left of their attack, it will only fuel the club’s determination to strengthen the position in the future.

FootballTransfers revealed that they were willing to pay whatever was asked of them to sign Vini Jr and Alvarez, so any opportunity that arises in January or next summer is surely something they will look to exploit.

The transfer plan was laid down weeks ago, but all that was lacking was the execution.

In the meantime, it gives Arsenal’s rivals just a hint of hope that the seemingly invincible Gunners may be vulnerable after all.