Analysis: The 3 Amigos – What Arsenal’s front line have achieved in 2019/20

The 3 Amigos

Whilst waiting for the club to confirm sales and purchases, I thought it would be nice to share how some of our forward players have performed in this chaotic season and some of the things that just lets us know these 3 amigos a bit better.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 18 June 1989 -6’2”
Top speed:35.5km/h
Season 19/20: 44 app 29 goals 3 assist

When you look up the meaning of the phrase “20+ goals a season forward”, you will see his smug face. Started the season with expectations he will give us less than the previous season which is true but expectations were wrong in how small the drop was. Has outperformed every expected shooting metric at the cost of a significant drop in assist and key passes. Majority of goals coming inside the penalty box but outside the 6 yards box which could indicate less poaching this season and he probably does not need to get as close to the goal anymore. Shots that result in goals are still centrally concentrated. So a bit further away from goal, highly effective when taking shots near the middle for this season. Everytime he plays we are simply saying to the other team “we know you know what he’s going to do but can you stop him?”. If we include his missed shots, his spread is quite balance covering an area slightly outside of the penalty box all around, so we might see an increase in his range next season. 2 goals from outside the penalty box, one being a direct freekick.

Why did I list his top speed? Here is a hint, Mbappe clocks in at 36km/h. Guess who has the fastest forward in the league and the man is deadly.

Impressive new hair.

Alexandre Lacazette 28 May 1991 – 5’9”
Season 19/20:39 app 12 goals 7 assist

One of the 2 forwards to have performed better than expected (the other being Pepe) in every important forward metric, but I would argue even that does not truly reflect his contributions this season. Goals concentrated in the middle slightly right, which is expected as the previously highlighted player runs from the left to occupy the middle. Stats wise, Lacazette has done better than expected, but not by much and this is where I feel numbers do not reflect true value of players. There are many times where I feel he should have scored more based on the simplicity of the situation but he does sometimes score when he was not expected to and the numbers do reflect that. His best performing stat is his goals. Did not expect him to score this much.

Decent hair I guess.

Nicolas Pepe 29 May 1995 – 6’0”
Season 19/20:42 app 8 goals 10 assist

Another player to outperform expectations especially in the shooting metrics. He has been taking more shots and they have resulted in some good numbers. Also scored a few direct freekicks which is nice to have although 5 people arguing who wants to take certain freekicks doesn’t look very harmonious. If we take into account the shots he has attempted(including missed shots), they seem more central with some outliers on the left. Personally, I feel his shot power leaves a lot to be desired but watching him dribble somewhat negates that. It looks awkward to me yet he makes it effective. A highlight in terms of personal stats, he is the first to dribble pass a certain Virgil who at the time had a hot 100% recovery rate for 50 matches.

That facial hair though.

Data sourced from Arsenal.com , Understat.com and Transfermarkt.com

Anyone interested in the data on our 3 amigos can access them at the aforementioned sites.

Thanks for reading!

ArsenalAfroArmy

11 Comments

  1. Lose Laca form the front three and replace hopefully with Willian then we could be even stronger this coming season .
    Pepe will be better for the season we have just had and hopefully prove some of the rumblings we have on here saying he hasn’t performed ,I mean 8 goals and 10 assists can’t be bad for a first season player and now playing for a coach who can get the best out of the all the players who couldn’t perform Under Emery .

  2. Laca should be sold, Auba should play central
    With Willian and maybe a good left winger, we’ll have the best attack in the PL

      1. @auba_14 He might score more, but he will face 2 CB that are generally better at defending than your average FB, and there are also DM and CM that will congest the center. I think he will score less due to it being harder. You do not typically see strikers run past the CB like Auba can run past a FB and run towards goals. Well, we have to wait and see how Arteta decides 😃

  3. If Aubameyang was played centrally with Willan, Saka, Martinelli or Pepe each side, if Lacazette is retained I would like to see him trialled in the #10/false #9 role behind the striker. He is good as a target man to take the ball down, plays well with back to goal and is unselfish in bringing other players on goal.

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