Why are Arsenal scoring so many more goals this season?

There is no doubt that Arsenal are knocking in the goals with alarming regularity, with December being a brilliant example with 12 goals in the 3 games so far. We all know that this is a great improvement over last season when we had Olivier Giroud (or Theo Walcott at times) as our main centre-forward. This season we now have an abundance of options, and Sanchez and Lucas (who hardly plays at all) both getting hat-tricks this month. Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mesut Ozil have also been getting on the scoresheet regularly. We have already amassed 36 goals from our 15 League games and an amazing 58 in all competitions, and we are not even halfway through the season yet!

Arsene Wenger feels that this impressive improvement is thanks to Alexis Sanchez movement whilst being fluid in the centre-forward role. “At the moment our goalscoring record depends on the quality of our movement and the quality of our passing,” he said. “We have a guy up front who doesn’t stay up there, he likes to come deep to make passes for the runners.

“That’s as well why I play with runners like Walcott, who can come and fill in in these positions. We can come a little bit from everywhere and with the quality of the passing behind, that explains certainly why we can score goals.”

You could even say that we don’t really have a concrete centre-forward any more, as while Sanchez is moving back into midfield to get the ball, then other players like Walcott, Ozil and the Oz are moving into the centre to replace him, like a rotating diamond formation. It definitely causes opposing defences more confusion as they don’t know who to concentrate on, whereas last season Giroud was very one dimensional and was usually left to be the target man on his own.

So do you agree with Wenger that our improved goalscoring record is all down to Alexis’ contributions?

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8 Comments

  1. Yes…..I said some time ago that his coming deep to play causes problems for the opposition’s defense. Wenger tried to play him in a Giroud role the first two games and it failed causing fans to criticize the player and Wenger. But I am sure he must have told Wenger he needs to be involved in the play by coming deep and that little tweak changed everything.

  2. Yes i agree and partly because the team depth has greatly improve so players are fully aware the only reason to get a nod is to up there game.

    The quality of the team performance in recent past is largely due to level play ground that earn the players playing chance as against favoritism in the old past where if a player is doing well or otherwise they have an automatic call up against over other ones that are in form Ramsey so to speak.

    All in all the result has boldly speak for itself and Arsene future is largely dependent on the final outcome of the current campaign and anyone should easily agree with me that Wenger doesn’t like any Arsenal player more than himself.

  3. I think it’s a mixture of things. Now we have a much better squad depth, some our consistent under performers have improved this season, knowing their places are under genuine threat. We’ve really strengthened the defensive side of our team with Mustafi, and Xhaka. But for me, the main reason for our improvement is the balance, and finally using players that fit the system.

    For most games, we’ve used two natural wingers, instead of the usual one, and Ramsey! Players are more often playing in their natural positions. Mertesacker never worked in our system because of his pace, and our high defensive line. Giroud didn’t work because we don’t play to his strengths, and we had no movement with him up front, and Wenger’s system thrives on movement. Not his fault as he’s not a winger, but Ramsey out wide was always a huge problem. A huge reason for our improvement is not having regulars: Giroud, Ramsey, and Mertesacker starting for us.

  4. Well one reason is that we have a more consistent centre forward

    Last season Giroud scored 16 goals which Isn’t terrible at all but he went 12 matches in a row without scoring

    Alexis already has 11 PL goals and 4 assists and both Giroud and Lucas are doing well off the bench

  5. Why we are scoring goals? Our front three now have confidence in front of goal,ozil included,that’s why if sanchez comes deep,either ox,ozil or theo is upfront ready to make a run unlike before when they were a little shaky in the final third. Even those coming from the bench are also confident in their respective roles. As for Ramsey,I think he needs to change his game a bit.

  6. as important as sanchez is he is not the only reason we’re scoring more goals like wenger said when alexis comes deep we have theo&co to take his place,all this movement must confuse defenders they don’t really know who they are supposed to mark which allows our players to lose them!!

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