Welcome to The Radar, a Sky Sports column in which Nick Wright uses a blend of data and opinion to shed light on need-to-know stories from up and down the Premier League. This week:
🔴 Arsenal’s big issue in attack?
🆚 Emery reunion for Xhaka
🔍 A player to watch this weekend
Arsenal’s technical issue
Arsenal’s first-leg lead against Sporting allowed them to fall back on their defence in Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg. Having shown vulnerability in recent games, a return to some characteristic solidity helped them into the last four.
Declan Rice says he can’t wait for Arsenal’s clash with Man City and wants to make a ‘massive statement’ with a win at the Etihad Stadium
Mikel Arteta will hope to see the same defensive stinginess against Manchester City on Sunday. But Arsenal’s performance against Sporting was also a reminder of the room for improvement at the other end of the pitch. Their attack continues to misfire.
How can Arteta change it? Maybe he doesn’t need to. They have a six-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The onus is on City to win the game. But against an opponent of their quality, it is hard to see a positive outcome if offensive solutions can’t be found.
Arteta’s approach has become the subject of intense scrutiny. Has a perceived aversion to risk come at the cost of fluency and flair on the ball? Has open-play chance creation been neglected in favour of set-pieces? Do Arsenal rely on their defence too readily?
Personnel is another important factor. Injuries continue to limit Arteta’s options, with Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard among those doubtful for Sunday’s game. But the need for changes in forward areas only became clearer against Sporting.
Gary Neville gives his verdict on how Arsenal approach Sunday’s game against Man City
For the second game in a row, Arteta fielded a front three of Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli and Viktor Gyokeres, a combination which plainly does not work, or facilitate smooth football.
Arsenal have only won two of the last six games the trio have started together. And one of those wins, against Chelsea in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at the Emirates Stadium in February, required a late goal from substitute Kai Havertz.
All three players can be potent when running at, or in behind, opposition defences. They have contributed 36 goals between them this season. But their selection, all at once, leaves Arsenal lacking the technical security to retain possession high up the pitch.
Sunday 19th April 4:00pm
Kick off 4:30pm
“It’s about doing the basics to a better level, just the five, 10-yard passes that we’re giving away a bit sloppily,” said Declan Rice after the Sporting game. “We have lacked a little bit of clarity in the final third,” added his midfield partner Martin Zubimendi.
The business of ball retention is a struggle for Gyokeres in particular.
According to Opta, he has lost possession 246 times in the Premier League this season, having only had 566 touches, figures which give him the second-highest rate of touches ending in losses of possession among outfield players in the division.
Martinelli and Madueke rank high on the list too. Like Gyokeres, who only completed five of his nine attempted passes against Sporting, the pair found it difficult to hold on to the ball on Wednesday night, losing possession 12 and 17 times respectively.
The game changed with Arsenal’s substitutions. Not in terms of creativity, admittedly. But at least in terms of control.
Havertz, Leandro Trossard, Max Dowman and Gabriel Jesus completed 89 per cent of their passes, their technical quality allowing Arsenal to play in Sporting’s half during the closing stages.
The story of the day from Man City’s Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal
Arsenal might need that same capacity at the Etihad Stadium if they are to avoid a repeat of the second-half barrage that did for them in last month’s Carabao Cup final, when they couldn’t get up the pitch and Manchester City’s pressure proved too much.
Pep Guardiola’s pressing structure, or non-pressing structure, proved crucial as his front four sat off Arsenal’s goalkeeper and defenders, instead blocking routes into midfield and forcing long passes to a striker, in Gyokeres, who couldn’t make the ball stick.
Arteta’s hand may now be forced on his team selection when it comes to Dowman, with Madueke a doubt for Sunday’s game as well as Saka having picked up an injury against Sporting.
Havertz, meanwhile, can give Arsenal the outlet they lacked.
Kai Havertz has four goals and two assists in only 713 minutes played this season
The 26-year-old has endured an injury-hit season. He struggled in midfield in the Carabao Cup final and again in the defeats to Southampton and Bournemouth. But there were reminders of his effectiveness as a focal point against Sporting.
In the space of 35 minutes, and having scored the goal that ended up settling the tie in the first leg, Havertz won more aerial duels than any other player on the pitch, with three, one of which teed up Eberechi Eze for a clear shooting chance. Havertz also completed three times as many passes as Gyokeres, with 15.
Factoring in the last two seasons in the Premier League, given his limited involvement this term due to injuries, Havertz’s superiority to Gyokeres in the duel and in terms of ball retention shines through in the numbers. Put simply, he is the better targetman.
Manchester City need no reminding of what Havertz can do in the role. The player who scored the winner in the Champions League final against them for Chelsea also played a starring role in Arsenal’s 5-1 win at the Emirates Stadium in February of last season.
Havertz set up Odegaard’s opening goal that day and dispatched the fourth himself. He also provided an outlet, linking the play by completing all but two of his 28 passes and, again, winning more aerial duels than any other player on the pitch, with three.
Arsenal have a history of winning title-defining games. Can they do it again?
His deployment up front on Sunday, having only played there on a handful of occasions all season, could help give Arsenal’s attack the balance it has so often lacked, while also giving Gyokeres the chance to make an impact against tiring legs as a substitute.
Manchester City’s quality is such that Arsenal will inevitably need to fall back on their defence for periods of the game. But raising the technical level of their attack, as much as player availability allows, could hold the key to emerging with a positive result.
Xhaka’s Sunderland influence
Arsenal’s captaincy has been another point of discussion this week after Rice was handed the responsibility in their last two games. Meanwhile, their former skipper Granit Xhaka is preparing to face the manager who stripped him of the armband in 2019.
Sunderland take on Unai Emery’s Aston Villa on Sunday having claimed another big scalp in beating Spurs. They are on a run of three wins from four in the Premier League. Xhaka’s return from an ankle injury has been a significant factor in their upturn in form.
Sunderland’s record with and without Granit Xhaka in the Premier League
Their record with and without him in the Premier League speaks to his importance. Sunderland points per game average jumps from one to 1.5 when he starts. They have lost four of their six Premier League games without him compared to only six of the other 26.
He was typically influential last weekend, having more touches and making more passes than anyone else on the pitch as he demonstrated the ball-playing prowess Spurs badly lack. He can strengthen his case for signing of the season at Villa Park.
Player Radar: Who else to keep an eye on
Chelsea loanee Tyrique George has struggled for playing time at Everton but his speed and directness from the bench helped them come from behind to draw with Brentford last weekend.
David Moyes has promised him more minutes. Could he be an option to exploit Liverpool’s vulnerability to counter-attacks in the first Merseyside derby at the Hill Dickinson Stadium?
Live Radar: What’s on Sky this weekend?
Spurs face Brighton in the Roberto De Zerbi derby on Saturday Night Football, with coverage starting on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event from 5pm ahead of the 5.30pm kick-off.
A bumper Super Sunday has Aston Villa vs Sunderland, Everton vs Liverpool and Nottingham Forest vs Burnley available to watch across Sky Sports at 2pm before Man City host Arsenal at 4.30pm.
On Monday Night Football, Crystal Palace take on West Ham. Coverage begins at 6.30pm on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event ahead of the 8pm kick-off time.
Read last week’s Radar column
Alejandro Garnacho and the rest of Chelsea’s misfiring summer signings were the subject of the last column. Antoine Semenyo’s Manchester City impact and Brian Brobbey’s clutch value to Sunderland were also covered.
