Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday neatly packaged the club’s biggest problems of the season into a 45-minute burst.
Mikel Arteta’s waning side took a first-half lead through Declan Rice only to be undone by goals from Dean Huijsen and Evanilson. Another advantage squandered ensured that Arsenal have dropped 21 points from winning positions this season – equalling an unwanted club record for a single Premier League campaign, per Opta.
The nature of Bournemouth’s two strikes was also painfully familiar for the Gunners.
“The key was the set plays in the second half,” Cherries boss Andoni Iraola outlined after the match. “In the end in these close games to make the difference with the set plays was the key to take the three points.”
Arsenal have maximised this difference-making avenue to goal over recent seasons and still boast one of the best attacking set-piece records in the division. However, their attempts at defending dead balls has left a lot to be desired.
The Gunners have shipped 12 set-piece goals this season – the same as relegated Ipswich Town and a tally only topped by three Premier League clubs. Arteta has crafted Arsenal into a suffocating compact block in open play, ensuring that dead ball situations account for 38.7% of all goals conceded this term, comfortably the highest ratio in the division.
Arteta was in a foul mood at the end of Saturday’s defeat. “We should have killed the game and we didn’t,” the Spanish boss fumed. “On top of that if you defend your box in two set pieces in the way we have done you’re in big, big, trouble.”
Arsenal have been guilty of giving up leads throughout the campaign. At the start of the season, the Gunners could blame early red cards on these slip-ups – ten men from the north London outfit had dropped points to Brighton and Manchester City by September.
However, this issue has swollen into a caricature over recent weeks. Arsenal have taken the lead in their last five Premier League games, yet only against Ipswich were they able to secure a victory. These chronic bursts of complacency – which have no doubt been conditioned by Arsenal’s run to the Champions League semi-finals – have seen the Gunners give up nine points in the last month.
The issues for Arteta to fix ahead of next season’s push to climb higher than second are obvious. The solutions may be a bit harder to decipher.
