Criticism of Arsenal’s season so far would be, by all accounts, fairly unjust considering they are unbeaten in the league and sit top of their Champions League group. Despite this, we examine why Arsenal’s slow starts could be the cause of their downfall in the near future.
Rewind the clocks back a year and you find a side who were racing out the blocks and blowing teams away. This term, Arsenal have, at times, had to rely on strenuous exertions in order to maintain their now lofty standards.
That isn’t to say they haven’t been exceptional, in fact, it could even be argued this team appear far more mature and battle-hardened following the agonising events of last season’s title run-in.
Teething problems are to be expected when adding new names into a team that was, and still remains, a fragile eco-system; take one player out and the balance shifts considerably. This is perhaps best reflected by William Saliba’s injury at the tail end of 2022/23, which proved catastrophic to their chances of silverware. Keeping him fit alongside Gabriel will be key to anything they hope to achieve this season.
The jury is still out on summer signings David Raya and Kai Havertz, who have shown flashes of what they can bring to Mikel Arteta’s team. Declan Rice has arguably been the signing of the summer in the Premier League, so there are no qualms about his input.
There is certainly nothing to be worried about as an Arsenal fan. Victories over both Manchester clubs, hard-fought draws against Tottenham and Chelsea, as well as dominant displays on the continent, all the while rarely having the best XI on the field should inspire a huge amount of confidence later down the line.
However, a potentially perilous pattern of dissonance has begun to emerge that contradicts all their positive work at the beginning of last season.
Arsenal’s Slow Starts
At this stage last season, Arsenal had 24 points after nine games, failing to win just once against Manchester United at the beginning of September.
Had it not been for an uncharacteristically sluggish stalemate against Fulham on matchday three of this season – which they have been ruminating on ever since – they would be level on points with both table-toppers Tottenham, and their former selves from 2022/23.
21 points so far this season is no doubt fine margins that shouldn’t prove detrimental at this stage; they are averaging 2.33 points-per-game, which over a 38 game season equates to 88 points. This would be enough to surpass their total from last year by four points, but still not enough to win the league in five of the previous six seasons.
That fixture against Fulham highlighted one of the glaring blemishes on a largely glittering 2023 for Arsenal. Andreas Perreira latching onto Bukayo Saka’s loose backpass within 57 seconds meant the Gunners became the first team in Premier League history to concede a first-minute goal three times in a single calendar year.
The other instances came in draws against south coast duo Southampton and Bournemouth; both ultimately proved costly in their final title push.
However, with both of those games coming near the end of last year, conceding early is nothing new. It is their discernible lack of goals early on that is the focus of our discussion.
Arsenal fans need only to cast their minds back a year ago to find the best case examples of their lightning fast starts.
After nine games in the league, the Gunners have scored just four goals in the first half an hour of games. At the same stage last season, they had netted 10. They would go on to finish the season with 29 goals in the first 30 minutes of games, and 14 goals in the first quarter of an hour; for context, they are yet to score within the first 15 minutes this term.
Are teams getting wiser to Arsenal’s possession-orientated style? Or is Mikel Arteta switching the emphasis from all-out chaos to calm and control?
They are no doubt well on their way to another title challenge, and their points-per-game of 2.33 is still far better than their season average from 2022/23.
It is hard to pinpoint whether this new-found struggle for goals early on is a sign of weakness, or perhaps a sign that this team is becoming increasingly level-headed.
Arsenal are the lowest scorers of any team in the Premier League’s top seven at the time of writing, but this is counter-balanced by an exceptional defensive record which ranks joint-second for least goals conceded.
As history have proven, all successful title winning teams are built upon strong defences.
They have also shown no indication that they can’t score goals, it is just more a case of restlessness among the Arsenal fanbase who perhaps had grown accustomed to racing into a comfortable early lead. Even when their backs have been against the wall this term, they have shown the necessary sangfroid to tussle with the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, all the while remaining unbeaten.
How far Arsenal’s slow starts will take them remains to be seen, particularly in the latter stages of the season where their oh-so-nearly campaign unravelled last term. Add to that the potential for taxing knockout stage games in the Champions League, and they may find their capacity to dig deep in the face of adversity begins to wane.
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