Wenger ponders: Arsene faces formation headache which could define season for Arsenal

Arsenal are flying in the Premier League at the moment. Despite a set-back (of sorts) at West Brom last weekend the North London club are top of the Premier League and look in very good form, having bounced back from their opening day defeat to Aston Villa by taking 16 points from a possible 18.

Arsenal showed good character to come back from one goal down at West Brom and get an equaliser against the side who went to the Champions the week prior and won 2-1. But, what can we make of Arsenal’s current form?

Arsenal’s Tactical Set-Up

Arsenal are experiencing a number of injuries, particularly out wide which has led to a relatively narrow 4-2-1-2-1 formation almost being adopted.

Against West Brom, they opted to play both Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere in the support roles off Olivier Giroud with Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta at the base of midfield and Mesut Ozil in a more fluid role in front of them. Thus far, this has worked quite well, with Flamini providing a combative edge in midfield (particularly key during Arteta’s spell out through injury). The former AC Milan midfield has averaged four Defensive Actions per game and won around one tackle per game also.

The problem with this set-up at the moment is a relative lack of width. Arsenal do not have Gervinho anymore to provide a direct outlet, whilst even if Santi Cazorla plays wide, he tends to drift in-field meaning that the full-back has to provide the width. Cazorla is not really a winger, but more a central player. With Mesut Ozil signed it is likely that the two players will interchange. If we look at this action areas graphic for Cazorla from the game against Spurs we can see this:

Despite starting the game as a left-midfielder we can see that he was in essence another midfielder, mainly a central one who drove forward to dictate the play. Cazorla provided a fourth option in midfield, whilst leaving Kieran Gibbs somewhat vulnerable at left-back when Spurs tried to overload Arsenal down this flank.

Lukas Podolski can provide width though and so can Theo Walcott (both players are currently injured). Against West Brom the lack of variety in attack cost Arsenal, who did not consistently threaten to score a second goal and win the game. This facet of Arsenal’s play can be seen by the fact that the majority of their chances have been created from central areas this season:

Last season, Arsenal created more chances from out wide, which is representative of the fact that the club played with two more out and out wide players, as opposed to playing inverted wingers like Santi Cazorla or Jack Wilshere:

Almost a combined 30% of Arsenal’s chances were created from out-wide last season. This season just over 20% of the chances have been made from wide areas with 55% of the chances being made in the area behind the striker, as opposed to 43.3% being created in that area last season. This might continue to be a trend for Arsenal, if Wenger goes with Santi Cazorla wide when he is fit (something he probably will).

That being said, generally speaking Arsenal have been very good in front of goal this season, scoring 14 times, making them the second top goal scorers in the Premier League. The Gunners have also finished 13.9% of their chances this season. This is even more impressive if we compare it to Chelsea’s conversion of just 8% and rivals’ Spurs’ conversion of just 4.6%.

It’s also worth noting that only Liverpool have a higher shot accuracy than Arsenal, who has a 58% of their efforts on goal. This goalscoring prowess has certainly led to the up turn in fortunes for Arsenal, with Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud contributing four goals each so far.

Problems?

Arsenal only come in at fifth in Squawka’s team rankings, which is interesting considering that they are top of the league. One reason for this is the club’s low Defence Score which is due to the fact that the club have conceded eight times this season and have only kept one clean sheet on one occasion, against Spurs on match day two.

Further to this, Arsenal are conceding 12.9 shots per game, compared to just 10.6 per game last season. Arsenal’s defence has not looked massively solid this season. Arsenal do need to tighten up at the back if they are to maintain a title challenge over the course of the season. None of the sides currently sitting in the top-four have conceded as many goals as Arsenal and in the top half of the table only Manchester United and Everton have conceded more than the league leaders.

Conclusion

Arsenal are shaping up very well to mount a title challenge at the early stage of the season. Arsene Wenger’s side are top of the league going into the international break and have especially looked good in front of goal this season, with Giroud and Ramsey leading their goal scoring charts.

With so many key players out injured (Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott most notably) the club will only get stronger, once they return. That being said, it will be interesting to see if Wenger shifts back to a conventional 4-3-3 or continues with a winger-less formation, something that on the whole has been successful this season.