Arsenal have been involved in consecutive title races over the past two seasons, and basically no one can argue that our defense was a key reason for that, Key changes structurally and tactical has led to our dominance in that area of the field these past few seasons.
Arsenal’s central defensive partnership is one of, if not the, best in the world, couple that with a group of players not afraid to help out defensively from the front then it’s plain to see why we thrived in this area. So with that said here’s a Statistical Analysis of our Defensive numbers throughout Arteta’s four full seasons
Note: the stats I’ll use to show improvements will be goals conceded, goals conceded per game, saves per game and clean sheets.
2020/2021 SEASON
GOALS CONCEDED: 39
GOALS CONCEDED PER GAME: 1
SAVES PER GAME: 2.5
CLEAN SHEETS:12.
These stats were nothing to write home about but can still be considered above average however it was the combination our lackluster attack and average defense that made us ultimately finish 8th.
2021/2022 SEASON
GOALS CONCEDED: 48
GOALS CONCEDED PER GAME: 1.3
SAVES PER GAME: 2.6
CLEAN SHEETS:13.
Given how we preformed poorer in the Defensive stats barring clean sheets it meant that only having a stronger attacking display would allow us to better the 8th place finish in the previous season. Luckily we did but eventually just miss out on the top four in the final few games of the season, If we had avoided conceding fewer goals maybe we would have clinched a top four spot in that campaign.
2022/2023 SEASON
GOALS CONCEDED- 43
GOALS CONCEDE PER GAME- 1.1
SAVES PER GAME- 2.5
CLEAN SHEETS- 14.
In our first title chasing campaign in ages we obviously improved in the Defensive side of our game, with the return of William Saliba from loan, we got to see why we spent so much money on an 18 year old back in 2019. His partnership with Gabriel brought alot to our backline and formed the foundations of an unlikely title charge.
2023/24 SEASON.
GOALS CONCEDED- 29
GOALS CONCEDED PER GAME- 0.8
SAVES PER GAME- 1.4
CLEAN SHEETS- 18.
We failing to win the league last season with these stats is something that will puzzle me for a while, our defense was nigh on unbreakable especially in the second half of the season, after that winter break precisely where we conceded only 9 goals in 18 matches to end the campaign. It just wasn’t meant to be however given how we were pipped to the title by Man city on the final day.
Arsenal is a club that cannot be content with anything, improving collectively to even better those statistics is the bare minimum we should do ahead of the new campaign, this will only help us to finally achieve what we’ve been after for awhile now, silverware!
