Arsenal Player Analysis: Premier League Round 4

Following each season of the Premier League, each Arsenal player’s career-to-date performances are analysed and ranked against their internal competition.

Methodology

In assessing the on-field production and the comparative ranking of each player which comprise Arsenal’s senior squad, each player is allocated into five positional categories (with some players allocated to multiple positional categories due to their perceived versatility).

Those positional categories consist of:

• Goalkeeper
• Defenders
• Central Midfielders
• Wide Midfielders
• Centre Forward
• Striker

Once categorised, each player’s output in defined key performance indicators (KPIs) for their respective positional category has then been considered, using data sourced from Whoscored.com.

To provide a realistic picture of each individual player’s on-field production, only data from those seasons, throughout the player’s professional career, where the player has started at least 15 league games in at least two seasons (consecutive or non-consecutive) was considered. Where a player has not met that criteria, their productivity data was not assessed.

Different weightings were then assigned to the KPI data considered for each positional group based on the assumption that Arsenal adopt a 3-5-1-1 formation and the cornerstones of Arsenal’s tactical approach is as follows:

• Defend by aggressively pressing the opponent.
• Attack by monopolising possession of the ball in the opposition’s half, and patiently moving the ball back and forth laterally to stretch the opposition’s defensive block, and create passing lanes into the centre forward and striker and/or cut backs and crossing opportunities.
• The goalkeeper’s primary aims are to stop shots and claim crosses.
• The centre backs’ primary aims are to press and tackle their opponent to recover the ball (2+ per game), and win aerial duels (3+ per game).
• The central midfielders’ primary aims are to press and tackle their opponent to recover the ball (2+ per game), and contribute to the team’s offensive play through accurate passing (80%+) and producing multiple key passes (1+) per match.
• The wide midfielders’ primary aims are to press and tackle their opponent to recover the ball (2+ per game) and contribute to the team’s offensive play in the final third through multiple forward dribbles (1+) and multiple key passes per game (1+).
• The centre forward’s primary aims are to contribute to the team’s offensive play in the final third through multiple shots (3+) and successful aerial duels (3+) per match as well as goals (15+ per season)
• The striker’s primary aims are to contribute to the team’s offensive play in the final third through multiple shots (3+) per game and goals (15+ per season).

The findings of the aforementioned analysis, provide an invaluable insight as to:

• how each player ranks against their internal competition within their positional category; and
• which 11 players make up Arsenal’s most productive team.

Internal player rankings

The player rankings by position are as follows:

Formation and line-up

Based on:

• the above analytical comparison
• Arsenal’s aforementioned tactical basis and minimum required KPIs
• Mustafi, Chambers, Mari, Sokratis, Emile-Smith Rowe, and Martinelli recovering from injuries
• Arsenal only playing 2 matches between 2 October and 17 October

the 11 players which comprise Arsenal’s most productive starting 11, for their round 4 Premier League clash versus Sheffield Utd, would appear to be as follows:

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