Welcome to The Radar, a Sky Sports column where Nick Wright combines data and opinion to shed light on key Premier League stories. This week, the focus is on Arsenal's attack, which has been underperforming despite the team's lead in the Premier League. Their recent Champions League quarter-final win against Sporting showcased both the team's defensive solidity and the need for improvement in their attack.
Mikel Arteta will hope to see the same defensive stinginess against Manchester City on Sunday, but the team's performance against Sporting highlighted the room for improvement at the other end of the pitch. Arteta's approach has been scrutinized, with questions about his perceived aversion to risk and the team's reliance on set-pieces.
The personnel is another crucial factor, with injuries limiting Arteta's options and the need for changes in forward areas becoming clearer against Sporting. The front three of Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, and Viktor Gyokeres has not worked, and the team has only won two of the last six games they have started together. The trio's selection leaves Arsenal lacking technical security to retain possession high up the pitch. According to Opta, Gyokeres has lost possession 246 times in the Premier League this season, with a 43.5 percent rate of touches ending in possession losses.
Martinelli and Madueke also rank high on the list, at 38.9 percent and 36.1 percent, respectively. Manchester City, by contrast, does not have a single player over the 30 percent mark. The game changed with Arsenal's substitutions, with players like Havertz, Leandro Trossard, Max Dowman, and Gabriel Jesus completing 89 percent of their passes and allowing Arsenal to play in Sporting's half during the closing stages. Arteta's hand may be forced on his team selection, with Dowman potentially starting and Havertz providing an outlet that Arsenal lacked.
Havertz has endured an injury-hit season, but there were reminders of his effectiveness as a focal point against Sporting. He won more aerial duels than any other player on the pitch and completed three times as many passes as Gyokeres. Factoring in the last two seasons, Havertz's superiority to Gyokeres in the duel and in terms of ball retention shines through in the numbers.
His deployment up front on Sunday could help give Arsenal's attack the balance it has often lacked, while also giving Gyokeres the chance to make an impact as a substitute. Manchester City's quality means Arsenal will inevitably need to fall back on their defense for periods of the game, but raising the technical level of their attack could hold the key to emerging with a positive result. Other stories include Granit Xhaka's return from injury and his importance to Sunderland, Chelsea loanee Tyrique George's potential to exploit Liverpool's vulnerability to counter-attacks, and the upcoming Premier League matches, including Spurs vs Brighton, Aston Villa vs Sunderland, and Manchester City vs Arsenal.