#47 - Analysing Arsenal's chance creation in Odegaard absence

Martin Odegaard is injured and many worried how the team would adapt in terms of creativity. With nearly 5xG created against Leicester, it wasn't really a problem. I look at how Arsenal did it.

Many worried about creating chances in the absence of Martin Odegaard. And whilst missing him is clearly a loss, this team is learning new ways to unlock defences as a result.

But after 8 goals in two games, with heavily rotated sides, Arsenal have shown they have the tools to break down a low block. This week, I look at how they did it.

Arsenal created a huge 26 chances in total in total against Leicester.

What’s reassuring is the amount we created in and around the box. That is largely because Arsenal progressed the ball very well. Thomas Partey was very strong in that aspect, with 87 of 96 passes completed.

Arsenal had 74.6% of the ball, completing a massive 89.2% of their attempted passes, with 285 attacking third passes completed (Leicester had just 23).

Of the 26 chances created, 7 were big chances. 5 of these came from the right, with Jurrien Timber and Bukayo Saka dovetailing perfectly to create a huge amount of openings between them.

1 of the other 2 came from the left and only one centrally, highlighting how in the absence of Odegaard, Arsenal are working harder than ever to maximise creativity from the wide areas.

Arsenal’s approach patterns are clear. Progress the ball centrally, then get it wide to create the big chances and take ons.

Below you can see where Arsenal attempted their take ons in this game. The left and right edge of the area is clearly the target zone to beat the men. Timber and Saka are both excellent at take ons and unpredictable with the ability to go both inside and out.

Still a right side dominance. Whilst the left-side is functioning much more effectively, the end product is still very much right side dominant. Bukayo Saka created 8 chances, Jurrien Timber 7 - next highest was Trossard with 3.

He ended up with no goal or assist (much to my annoyance as he was my Fantasy Football captain) but Saka was elite in this game. He also managed 8 take ons, the next highest on the pitch was 2 (Trossard and Calafiori).

Getting the ball into these wide areas on the outside of the box also increases Arsenal’s chances of getting a corner. They nothced up a massive 17 corners in this game and scored the crucial goal from their 17th.

Constantly evolving. Mikel Merino could be back next week to feature for the first time since he joined the club. He’s a different profile altogether and will allow Mikel Arteta and his staff to again innovate.

But this current approach to send plenty of crosses into the box, will only become more of a threat when Merino is in the mix, as the Spaniard is a duel monster and very strong in the air.

Currently teams are funneling Arsenal onto the wings, but it’s not stopping them and when they see Merino and Havertz waiting in the box, I oppositions will have to adapt and instead have to try and stop the ball getting wide, this in turn should open up the middle a bit more and allow someone like Saka to come inside more to make the difference, or more space for someone like Ethan Nwaneri…

As teams look to avoid Arsenal’s wide threat and corners threat, they are going to have to compromise elsewhere and it’s up to Arsenal’s players to constantly adapt and find the weakness in the opposition. They certainly have all the tools in this squad to always find the keys.