Why the Gunners are fading after half-time
Small squad, limited rotation and bruising schedule explain their second-half struggles
THERE are habits emerging at Arsenal that make boss Mikel Arteta a wanted man. Among them? Fast starts. Over the first 15 matches of this season, Arsenal have scored 11 goals inside the opening 25 minutes. It has been a crucial factor in their early dash to the top of the Premier League and towards the Europa League knockout stages. England rugby coach Eddie Jones is one of several peers mining secrets from Arteta.
Recently, however, Arsenal have flown out of the blocks, only to fade down the stretch. Against Leeds, they hung on to win 1-0. On Sunday, Southampton snatched a draw in the second half.
The challenge now? To prevent their fast start to the season being squandered, too.
‘We dropped a little bit our level,’ Gabriel Jesus admitted last week. He’s right, and ahead of today’s clash with PSV Eindhoven, issues are beginning to simmer.
AS Arsenal have settled into their Sunday-Thursday routine, and performances have started to stutter, the same questions keep cropping up: is that bruising turnaround taking a toll? Can this squad cope?
Across their first 11 Premier League matches, interesting trends have developed between Arsenal’s first and second-half performances. Either side of half-time, they are producing a similar number of shots (88 v 82), goals (13 v 12) and taking chances with near-identical efficiency (14.7 per cent shot conversion rate v 14.6).
At the back, however, Arsenal are conceding more shots (39 v 54), more goals (3 v 8) and clearer chances after the break as opponents go in search of an equaliser.
But against Leeds and Southampton, something changed. In the second half, Arsenal’s combined shots ( 15 v 6) and touches in the opposition box (26 v 13) plummeted. They didn’t manage a shot on target in the second half of either match (7 v 0).
Defensively, meanwhile, Arsenal allowed significantly more shots on target (2 v 5) and touches in their own box (13 v 27).
This is a sample of only two matches, of course, and after the draw at Southampton, Arteta insisted Arsenal’s problem was that they ‘stopped doing all the simple things right’.
But is that a symptom of physical and mental fatigue?
Tellingly, eight players have started all of Arsenal’s Premier League matches. Some of those have been regulars in the Europa League, as well. That has a knock-on effect.
Jesus is among those to start every league game. ‘I’m doing good recovery after the games — eating better, sleeping better… staying with my (five-month old) daughter (Helena), that’s the first thing,’ he added. ‘It helps me a lot to recover my mind. It’s not all about the body, the mind is more important because in my opinion it controls the body.’
His dynamism and intelligence have dragged Arsenal’s attack to new heights, but the striker has now gone five matches without a goal. History suggests neither this spell nor his remarkable start could last. Jesus is averaging a goal or an assist for Arsenal every 107.6 minutes. Across his whole career, that figure sits at 108.4.
Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Granit Xhaka are sharing the load but opponents are beginning to take special measures.
Southampton, for example, switched mid-game to a back five to curb the threat of Xhaka and Martinelli down Arsenal’s left.
Arteta’s side are making a habit of not killing games — they have led 1-0 in all of their last four games and failed to make things more comfortable. One possible recent explanation? ‘They had 24 hours less to recover... maybe that was the reason we had a little bit more in the tank,’ said Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl.
Building two or three-goal leads while on top would allow Arteta to substitute key players, or leave them on the bench in Europe.
The unforgiving schedule also makes proper training nigh- on impossible between Thursday’s trips abroad and Sunday’s league action. Instead, first-teamers who start in the Europa League are limited largely to video and recovery work.
That can impact more than their second-half performances. According to a coach who talks with Arteta, preparation is crucial to the weapon that has helped take them top of the league: fast starts.