Can Arsenal break the duopoly set by Manchester City and Liverpool?

As the English Premier League has resumed after the 2022 FIFA World cup, there are a number of questions that all of us are waiting to know. Can Haaland score at least 40 goals? Can Manchester City win their 3rd PL title in a row? Can Newcastle United secure a top 4 finish? Can Erik Ten Hag bring Man United’s glory days back?

Man City

Perhaps the most intriguing question among these are – Can Arsenal break the duopoly set by Manchester City and Liverpool to become England’s best club this season? It wont be unfair to say that Man City are the only club monopolizing with English football.

Ever since Pep Guardiola handled the managerial job at the Etihad Stadium, City won 4 Premier league titles. Twice he has done it 2-times in a row. His assistant during the first two PL titles, Mikel Arteta, who is now managing Arsenal could become only the second manager after Jurgen Klopp to challenge Pep for the Premier league title.

Can Arsenal break the duopoly set by Manchester City and Liverpool

Arteta delivered Arsenal their first trophy since 2016/17 as the Gunners became FA Cup winners for a record 14th time. Last year, the North-Londoners were really close to finishing in the top 4 but eventually missed out. This season it will be fair to say that Arsenal are serious contenders to win the English top-tier.

Can Arsenal break the duopoly set by Manchester City and Liverpool

But it was not always Roses and Daffodils for Arteta. As a matter of fact he had to deal with Thorns during his initial days at the Emirates. While he was forming the core of his team, Arteta did not have very good days in the League. In his first two seasons, Arsenal finished 8th.

But they have come a long way since then. Before the 2022/23 season began, Arteta made 3 signings. After missing out on Dusan Vlahovic, he bought Gabriel Jesus and Oleksander Zinchenko from Man City. Both of them made an instant impact.

Jesus especially has settled down very well. He has scored 5 goals and assisted 6 times in 14 PL outings. With Jesus in the middle, Bukayo Saka and Gabrierl Martinelli have taken care of the flanks very well. Numbers suggest that Saka has registered the second highest assists this season with (6), 3 behind Kevin De Bruyne.

 

Saka has also scored 5 goals on the way in 15 matches. Gabriel Martinelli has also looked in fine form. He scored a cracker against West Ham during Arsenal’s first PL game since the World cup. He has also counted for 6 goals and 2 assists. In total Saka, Jesus and Martinelli share 30 G/A between them.

Jesus, Martinelli and Saka

However, Jesus is expected to remain out for a month or so due to injury but Arteta also has Eddie Nketiah, who played really well in the last match and also scored the 3rd goal during their 3-1 victory against the Hammers.

Coming to their Midfield – Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka have provided stability while connecting the defense to the attackers. Odegaard mainly operates on the attacking front as he is the joint top scorer for the Gunners with 6 goals under his belt.

Granit Xhaka and Partey have been efficient in terms of defense but the former also aids their counter attacks a lot of times. With Xhaka cooling the game down at times with his immense experience, Partey has shown class in the Defensive midfielder position.

One of the key things to notice is that Arsenal are even higher than Manchester City in terms of creating chances from open play. The Gunners have created 20+ chances from open play and the North Londoners are the only side to have more players on 20+ chances created from open play. 25 – Martin Odegaard⁠ & Bukayo Saka⁠, 23 – Gabriel Martinelli⁠, 22 – Gabriel Jesus⁠ and Granit Xhaka⁠ with 21.

Odegaard hands down is the KEY to Arsenal’s attack and Arteta will have to make sure the Norwegian doesn’t go out of form and remains injury free. Last but not the least their defense. The back line was something that concerned Arsenal for years.

The Gunners had a tendency of conceding goals out of nowhere but this season they have kept the second most clean sheets (7). Only Newcastle United have kept more clean sheets than Arsenal this season. Mikel Arteta did face criticism for signing Aaron Ramsdale but the English Goalkeeper has erased all the doubts regarding his form.

William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães’ pairing at the heart of defense has seen them concede 12 goals with a Goal conceded per match ratio of 0.80. They have a tackle success percentage of 62% and have made only 1 error leading to goal.

Outstanding if you are a Gunners fan but not so fancy if you support others. Ben White has been used as a right back, a tactic that has worked well for them. Kieran Tierney and Oleksander Zinchenko have been used alternatively as left-backs and they have helped the team time in time out.

So, are things looking bright for Arsenal or are they going to see them slump in the second half of the season?

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