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Arsenal’s midfielders need to score more

By on January 16, 2015

How do you compare two forwards against each other? The obvious starting place is to head to the scoring charts. Diego Costa, then Sergio Aguero, the Premier League scoring charts are topped by the league’s highest acclaimed forwards. Then Charlie Austin, a pleasant surprise, followed by Alexis Sanchez, another star. On the face of it, Sanchez being near the top of this list is not a surprise, considering he is one of the best players in the Premier League, however, those who follow him paint a picture of how incredibly rare he is on this list. Saido Berahino, Wilfred Bony, and Papiss Demba Cisse find themselves directly behind Sanchez, and all are conventional center-forwards.

This is where Sanchez stands out; a born-and-bred winger, he has, with only occasional stints up front, played on the wing for the most part. The next midfielders on the list are Eden Hazard and Wayne Rooney, tied for sixth with numerous other players and four fewer goals than Sanchez. Yet Sanchez’s goals say less about his personal achievements and form than it does about Arsenal’s style of play.

For an example, you only have to look as far as the next most recognized statistic on forwards, their conversion rate, or, shots-per-goal. In this statistic, Sanchez’s record of roughly 5.3 shots-per-goal is unremarkable. Most other top Premier League forwards, wingers, and even midfielders (Hazard, Rooney, Aguero, and more) have similar stats. Thus, if Sanchez scores more goals he must also have more shots.

And the stats did not lead us astray – he certainly does. While Rooney and Hazard have taken forty, and forty-three shots so far this season, Sanchez has taken sixty-three, more than Costa and only a few less than Aguero. He has more chances than most forwards do, and indeed this also applies to his teammates. Aaron Ramsey has taken thirty-six in just fourteen appearances while Santi Cazorla has had fifty-six whacks at goal. To put that in comparison to other teams, Manchester City’s David Silva has only had twenty-six shots in City’s current Premier League campaign, averaging less than two per match. Arsenal’s tactics are heavily based around the midfielder combining around the center-forward, so naturally, that center-forward would get fewer chances himself.

Meet Olivier Giroud. Giroud actually isn’t the terrible finisher Arsenal fan’s constant moaning makes him out to be; he simply gets fewer chances. Although he was out for the first three months of the season, his goalscoring form hasn’t been terrible since. The Frenchman has scored five goals in ten matches but maintained the same shots-per-goal rate Sanchez and most other Premier League forwards do. Of course, there is something to be said about being in the right place at the right time yet Arsene Wenger’s philosophy has adapted since the departure of Robin Van Persie, to account for the lack of a brilliant and see the midfielders get all the goalscoring opportunities. Even in 2009/2010 Cesc Fabregas was the club’s top scorer.

Indeed, Giroud has had a similar shots-per-game tally to Arsenal’s midfielders so far this season, a fair amount smaller than most other Premier League forwards. So instead of Giroud should Arsenal’s midfielders, bar Sanchez, of course, be scrutinized, if Arsenal feel their attacking department is lacking? Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, for one, has had thirty-one league shots so far this season but scored only one goal. Both Ramsey and Cazorla have also needed absorbent numbers of shots to convert many goals, and the latter is Arsenal’s penalty taker. Just as much as Giroud is blamed Arsenal’s midfielders should be at least considered a cause in whatever finishing problems they come across.

In their famous 6-3 loss to City last season, Theo Walcott scored twice, and in their past two meetings all of Arsenal’s three goals against City have come from midfielders in Wilshere, Sanchez, and Mathieu Flamini. If Arsenal fails to score against Manchester City at the weekend, you can bet it probably has something to do with their midfielders finishing just as much as it does with Giroud’s – at very least cannot be solely pinned on so.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.