While Arsenal improved last season, the eventual result was disappointing as they failed to qualify for the Champions League after a five-year wait.
After back-to-back defeats by Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, they dropped out of the top four positions in the league rankings. As a result, Arsenal will compete in the Europa League this season.
One of the primary reasons for Arsenal’s failure was their inability to score goals. The Gunners terminated Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s contract during last season’s winter transfer window and did not renew Alexandre Lacazette’s deal due to his poor run in front of goal.
Eddie Nketiah looked impressive late in the season, but Mikel Arteta wanted an experienced striker with top-level experience. The club granted Arteta’s wishes by signing Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City for £45 million.
Arsenal’s problem
Arteta used Lacazette as his main striker after Aubameyang left in January. He often dropped deep to link up and create space for his teammates by dragging opposing defenders around. His high intensive pressing in the final third spoiled opponents’ build up from the back. Arteta loved his attributes, which made him Arsenal’s leader in attack.
But due to Lacazette’s playing style, Arsenal experienced other issues during games. For example, he is ineffective at running behind the defence to create goalscoring threats.
As a result, Arsenal’s link-up play in the final third started to become monotonous. Once more, opponents had opportunities to narrow the spaces between their defence and midfield since he dropped deep from his line. Because of this, creating chances through the congested area in the final third was way more challenging.
The team’s leading forward scored only four goals in 30 games. This situation created immense pressure on Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard and Emile Smith Rowe to score more goals.
Saka led Arsenal in the league by scoring 11 goals, while Smith Rowe netted ten. However, no other player could reach double figures. The lack of a reliable scorer cost Arteta’s team dearly.
Jesus’ Profile
City manager Pep Guardiola initially bought Jesus to play him as a striker. He subsequently covered every position in the attacking line when needed. Jesus frequently played as a right winger last season. He started 13 matches in position and scored seven goals with six assists. He played eight games as a centre-forward but scored only one goal!
Jesus’ biggest weakness is his poor finishing ability. His ability to score as a striker has fallen into doubt by the fact that he consistently underperformed his expected goals throughout his career at City. However, there is hope that the striker’s prime is yet to come.
As City’s assistant coach, Arteta significantly improved Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane’s finishing ability. On that basis, Arteta will hopefully bring out the best from Jesus in front of the goal – Arsenal fans can count on him from now on!
The striker’s involvement in build-up play is crucial in Arteta’s playing style. In his 4-2-3-1 formation, the striker drops deep into the midfield to create numerical superiority.
Lacazette made a significant impact playing this role last season. He dropped into midfield and dragged opposition centre-backs out of position, allowing Saka or Gabriel Martinelli to run into free space behind the defensive line.
Odegaard or Lacazette’s through passes from the midfield found them in front of the goal. Arsenal scored several goals as a result of this strategy.
Lacazette dropped deep to receive the ball and quickly turned, slightly attracting West Ham United’s Craig Dawson, which created some free spaces in behind their defensive line. Martinelli attempted a through run towards that free space, Lacazette made a line-breaking pass and a goal was the outcome.
It makes perfect sense that Arteta sees these attributes in Jesus. He outperformed 93% of Premier League strikers last season by completing 30.59 passes per 90. His pass completion rate was also better than 96% strikers. That indicates that Jesus is a superb passer.
Dropping Deep to Create Space
As a forward, Jesus was often seen dropping from his position into midfield to receive the ball, allowing the wingers to run behind the defence.
Jesus dropped deep, received the pass under pressure, and passed to João Cancelo, who ran through the right wing. This created free space for Cancelo to move forward with the ball.
In the example above, Jesus dropped into midfield to receive Ruben Dias’ pass and quickly turned to move forward.
This attracted the opposition centre-back towards him, creating a hole in their defence. İlkay Gündoğan grabbed that free space and made a forward run. Jesus lifted the pass to Sterling. His final pass set up an excellent goalscoring situation in front of Gündoğan.
Running Behind the Defence
Jesus and Lacazette differ significantly in their ability to run behind the defence. Jesus is great at making runs in behind.
In the illustration above, Jesus attempted a run behind the defence while Kevin De Bruyne had the ball. De Bruyne made a splendid line-breaking pass. However, after moving near the goalscoring position, Jesus failed to control the ball and missed a fantastic opportunity.
Arsenal had trouble creating threats in the box because Lacazette’s box presence was so minimal. However, Jesus’ statistics in this area are pretty encouraging. He outperformed 96% of Premier League strikers by 8.01 touches per 90 in the penalty area.
Rather than receiving the final ball and scoring on his own, Lacazette usually tried to create chances from outside the box. But since there was no one in the box at that moment, it was impossible to convert it into a goal in most instances.
Jesus attempts to go into the box as well as receive the ball in midfield, as shown by the heatmap of his pass reception. His off-the-ball positional sense is outstanding, but he frequently misses goals due to bad finishing.
Creativity
Jesus’ creativity is another trait of his profile. Last season, when he mostly played as a right winger, this aspect was more noticeable. He was outstanding at creating goalscoring chances. His 3.74 shot creating action per 90 was better than 83% of Premier League wingers.
His dribbling skill accounts for a substantial portion of his chance creation. Jesus is a master dribbler in one-on-one situations. His 65.6% dribbling success rate was higher than the 93.3% of forwards in the last Premier League season.
Arteta may effectively utilise Jesus’ excellent dribbling skills by playing him as a winger. Jesus and Saka can be positioned on the two flanks, while Odegaard and Fabio Vieira or Smith Rowe can be used as two inside midfielders, especially when playing against clubs that deploy a low-block defensive line.
This will create a 2-3-5 shape in the final third. Jesus and Saka can penetrate opposition fullbacks on both sides with their dribbling skill, from where goalscoring chances can be created.
Defensive Involvement
Defensively Jesus’ work rate is excellent. Any coach would desire a presser like Jesus on his forward line because he would demolish the opposition’s natural build-up with his high intensive pressing.
The pizza percentile chart above makes one thing quite clear, Jesus not only creates hassles for the opponent by pressing intensely – he also aggressively charges and tries to steal the ball directly. His curved runs are very effective for lateral pressing. He forces the ball carrier to make a mistake. Even if he cannot directly regain the ball possession, he helps his teammate recover control of the ball.
Jesus’ move to Arsenal is quite interesting. He has all the abilities Arteta demands from a striker. However, he needs improvement with his finishing.
The Brazililian will be expected to lead Arsenal’s inexperienced forward line and it will be interesting to observe how qucikly he can adjust to his new role.
