Arsenal's Creative Drought from Open Play: A Title Threat?

In the latest edition of The Debrief, a Sky Sports column, Adam Bate analyzes key stories from recent Premier League matches, using a mix of data and opinion. This week, he focuses on Arsenal's underwhelming performance against Bournemouth, which has put the title back in the balance. The Gunners' lack of creativity from open play is a concern, with an expected goals total of just 0.18, reflecting their struggle to create scoring opportunities. While Mikel Arteta's team has excelled at set-pieces, overemphasizing this aspect of their game can hinder their momentum. In their match against Bournemouth, Arsenal spent 26 minutes and 48 seconds with the ball dead, including six minutes preparing for corners and seven minutes waiting for throw-ins. This tactic has been a theme throughout the campaign, but it made for a disjointed game, and Arsenal often fail to create from open play. In fact, they have had more matches with an open-play expected goals total of 0.3 or lower than Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea combined. This is unusual for a Premier League leader, as the eventual winners typically rank among the top two for open-play creativity. Arsenal's reliance on set pieces might explain their lack of fluency, and they will need to improve if they want to stay ahead of Manchester City. Meanwhile, West Ham's 4-0 win over Wolves has moved them out of the relegation zone, thanks in part to Jarrod Bowen's two assists. Bowen has been consistent in his output, with eight goals and eight assists in the Premier League this season, and he ranks among the top half a dozen players for goal involvements since joining West Ham in 2020. If he can finish the season strongly, he could join an exclusive club of players with 20 goal involvements in each of the last three Premier League seasons. Additionally, Sunderland's Brian Brobbey has impressed with his ability to hold the ball up, leading the line effectively and retaining possession after receiving the ball. His statistics back up his impressive performance, and he has become a key player for Sunderland.