On the 19th of May 2026, Arsenal reclaimed the Premier League title, 22 years after the elusive silverware last graced the shores of North London. It was a hard-fought victory, the Gunners had spent the last 8 months battling not only 19 other teams, but the doubt that had inevitably found a home in their hearts as the empty years passed them by.
But their tale is not as simple as it seems. It is not merely a tale of winners. It is a tale of struggle, of survival, of strength and fail, of hate and of antipathy.
Few lips have been adapted with the efficiency to properly explain just how fragile this victory is, and how temporary it will be if certain changes are not made within Arsenal’s team.
Luckily, mine are among them.
Part I: Analysis of Arsenal’s 2025/2026 attack
Arsenal’s 71 goals in the Premier League are the 2nd most goals scored in the 2025/2026 season, behind Manchester City, and the 3rd highest during Mikel Arteta’s reign as Arsenal manager. So, one could be content, no? The numbers are high enough to elicit praise.
No.
The numbers do their part to hide the truth, which is that:
Arsenal’s attack was not nearly impressive enough this season.
An elite defence and set piece strategy won Arsenal their war, not their attack. Their attack was forceless, and it cannot afford to be for much longer.
So, why was their attack so mediocre in the 2025/2026 season?
1. Several of their key attacking players were either off form or injured.
- The 2025/2026 season saw Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Martinelli register their lowest PL goal scoring return while at Arsenal simultaneously.
- Bukayo Saka also recorded his worst PL goal tally since 2020/2021, which was the first season he played fully as an attacker without switching to the left back position.
- For contrast, during Arsenal’s highest goal scoring season, 2023/2024, all their main attackers scored either their highest or 2nd highest total league goals in a campaign for Arsenal.
- New signing Viktor Gyokeres who was brought in to bolster the attacking line provided his worst league goal scoring output in 5 years.
- Gabriel Jesus played only 14 games and averaged 30 minutes per appearance due to an ACL injury suffered in 2025.
- Kai Havertz averaged 49 minutes per goal, his best goal scoring rate for Arsenal but he started only 7 league games due to recurring hamstring issues.
- Arsenal’s main attackers averaged 5.5 goals this season, the lowest they have ever scored in a league campaign under Arteta.
- Arsenal has the highest number of big chances missed in the 2025/2026 PL season (79), with the bulk of these coming from Viktor Gyokeres, Leandro Trossard, Bukayo Saka and Martinelli. (Altogether, they make up 46% of Arsenal’s big chances missed).
- Declan Rice has the 3rd most big chances created (17) and 4th most key passes (64) in the Premier League 2025/2026 season. However, he has the joint 17th most assists in the league with 5.
- His 5 assists on 9.22 expected assists mean although he is creative, the chances he creates are wasted by his teammates at a high rate.
- The only players that outperformed Declan Rice in terms of big chances created are Bruno Fernandes and Rayan Cherki, who both finished 1st and 2nd on the PL assist leaderboard respectively. He is the biggest victim of Arsenal’s attack’s wastefulness.
Why should Arsenal improve their attack?
One might ask: “Arsenal have won the league already with a crippled attack. What need could there be to sharpen it?”
The answer is: a. Evolution and b. Goal Difference
a. Evolution
- The average goals scored per game this season is 2.75 goals, the lowest since 2020/2021.
- 75% of teams underperformed their goal expectation this season. In contrast, 35% of teams underperformed their goal expectation in the 2024/2025 season, and 20% in the 2023/2024 season.
- As efficient as Arsenal are, it is not too far-fetched to say circumstances were in their favour this season.
- Their 85 point league win would have won only 2 of the past 10 league titles (From 2015/2016 to 2024/2025)
- Premier League teams spend millions of Euros every summer on player, coach, analysts and scout reinforcements to ensure their performances are highly improved upon.
- They also analyse winning teams’ strategies and devise means to neutralise them.
- Because Arsenal reached the UCL final this season, going unbeaten and losing merely on penalties, more teams in Europe will be especially focused on developing tactics to conquer them.
- Arsenal has to evolve with the rest of Europe, and for a team with a superior defence and stable midfield, it means sharpening their attack.
b. Goal Difference
- Although only 1 PL title in history has been decided on goal difference, goal difference still remains a valid method of breaking a tie.
- This season, the 8th, 10th and 12th PL position were all decided by goal difference.
- Arsenal have the lowest goal difference of a PL winning side (44) since Leicester in 2016 (32)
- Arsenal’s strategy of holding down a 1 goal lead early in the game might ultimately hurt them, especially if they need a higher goal difference for a position to be decided in their favour.
