Saturday's 4-2 success over Leicester City was an incredible afternoon, which left all watching breathless as we scrambled to secure the victory.
But how did we manage to do it? Adrian Clarke has looked through all the stats and footage again to understand just how we managed to come through this topsy-turvy game victorious:
Full-back dynamism
Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber both delivered eye-catching assertive displays that influenced this dramatic win. Playing with aggression aplenty, our Italian summer signing won a match-high 13 ground duels, and seven of his eight in the air.
Three headed efforts from Calafiori drew saves from an overworked Mads Hermansen, and showing how comfortable he was slipping into central midfield from left back, he created welcome overloads against the Foxes’ low block.
This switch of play to Gabriel Martinelli typified how his inverted positioning dragged blues shirts with him, to help free the Brazilian up in 1v1s against James Justin:
In the first half, these situations occurred time after time for Martinelli, who enjoyed 29 touches that were almost exclusively taken deep inside the final third. From one such position in first-half injury time, the Brazilian international cut the ball back for Leandro Trossard to score.
Martinelli's first-half touch map:
On the other flank Timber was equally impressive, linking superbly with Bukayo Saka throughout, feeding him from areas on the inside just like Ben White. Timber’s regular overlaps were also tremendously effective, notably when he made the most of a 2v1 to cross for Martinelli to open the scoring.
The Dutchman created seven chances overall, and his vibrant link-up play helped Saka rack up eight chances, in addition to seven shots. Tenacious in his off the ball work too, Timber made four tackles, eight ball recoveries and won nine of his 12 duels as both full-backs proved they can also deliver attacking panache.
One-way traffic
We had to wait until injury time for this victory to be earned but make no mistake, this was an exceptionally dominant performance. Pushing Leicester back for almost the entirety of the contest, we equalled our highest shot count in a Premier League match since records began in 2003/04, with 36 efforts, with the 16 on target also another best-ever.
When you check out the expected goals chalkboard, it tells a clear visual story of what happened on Saturday afternoon:
Our xG of 4.62 is the second highest figure any top-flight side has produced so far in 2024/25, and our own highest tally since the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
Having faced some difficult fixtures at the start of the season, this match was seen as a an opportunity for the Gunners to cut loose as an attacking force - and the players did not disappoint. We had 77 touches inside the opposition box, shooting 29 times from inside that domain. It would have been a travesty if we had not scored at least four goals.
Two small lapses
From a position of great strength at half-time, Mikel Arteta’s side were stunned to find themselves on level terms just 18 minutes into the second period.
The Foxes initially got themselves back into the game from a wide free kick. Our set-piece defending has been superb so far this season, but as shown below, we allowed Justin a free header which received some good fortune when went in off Kai Havertz.
The full-back's second was an extraordinary volley with an xG value of just 0.02. It strike came at a time when Trossard was filling in for Martinelli on the left, and Calafiori was dragged inside by Facundo Buonanotte, but even so there still seemed little on when it dropped the Foxes defender.
Both goals were as unexpected as they were unlikely, but even so Arteta was left frustrated some lapses in concentration almost saw two points slip away.
Industrious front two
Our opponents only enjoyed a 25.5% share of possession, but one of the standout tactical factors was the way our two central strikers worked hard to win the ball back.
In the ‘Odegaard role’, Trossard was visibly determined to mimic our absent captain’s pressing game. He applied pressure very well, pushing up to join Havertz in a 4-4-2 when we were out of possession.
As you can see from this athletic data, Trossard and Havertz put in a tremendous shift:
| Pressures | in Final Third | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Trossard | 24 | Trossard | 22 |
| Havertz | 18 | Havertz | 15 |
| Partey | 16 | Saka | 9 |
| Intensive Runs | Distance Covered | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Havertz | 298 | Havertz | 11.4km |
| Rice | 288 | Rice | 11.23km |
| Saka | 288 | Trossard | 11.2km |
| Trossard | 284 | ||
In possession, it was also good to see the duo’s rotational movement pay off. Whenever Havertz came short to receive a pass to feet, Trossard often slipped into the striker's role, and vice versa. Constantly on the move, these two continually kept their markers on their toes.
Their near-identical heat maps (Trossard left, Havertz right) show how they effectively played as a roving front two:
Overload leads to OG
Our desperately needed 94th-minute breakthrough came from yet another training ground corner routine, and its brilliance lay in the simplicity of the idea.
Trossard loitered around the far post where three of his teammates were man-marked. This made a 4v3 overload that came into play when our trio all attacked the centre of the goal, leaving the Belgian alone at the back stick.
We got a stroke of good fortune when Trossard’s shot deflected off Wilfred Ndidi and into his own net, but the way we manufactured space was clever, and a third of our goals this season have now stemmed from set play situations.
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