Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat to Wolves again highlighted the club’s biggest flaw. The Gunners’ defence has been pretty shambolic both home and away this season and the weakness was again exposed last night.
The London club have conceded, on average, 1.82 goals per game on the road under Unai Emery, but as this graph shows, it is part of a longer-term trend which predates the Spaniard’s time in the hot seat:
Over the last two PL seasons, Arsenal have conceded :
48 more goals than Man City
39 more than Liverpool
26 more than Spurs
21 more than Chelsea
19 more than Man Utd pic.twitter.com/dH832uhF2t— David Wall (@1DavidWall) 24 April 2019
Supporters on Twitter are not surprised by the statistic but are keen for Arsenal to make serious improvements to the backline in the summer:
Says it all
— Gary Kerr (@cammo33) 24 April 2019
The worst thing is , Liverpool and us comparatively couple seasons ago were v similar good attacking poor defensively . This CLEARLY states we need to go BIG defensively because this is not good enough . Look at what VVD helped them to do
— Robz ?? (@robertMklutse) 24 April 2019
All since mustafi joined the club???♂️
— Joe W (@joewalker969) 24 April 2019
The away graph must look horrific
— Brent Richardson (@theoslogooner) 24 April 2019
At least we lead em on stats
— Silver K (@DatGuySly1) 24 April 2019
Our defensive play hasn't been good over last 2 seasons and again is because of our limited creative options. We never replaced @19SCazorla hence we lack player to recover ball from defensive position and drive forward
— THE Majani (@ChasiaMJ) 24 April 2019
Worst defence in the top 6 in recent years, we already know
— Arsenal Förever (@ArsenalFrever1) 24 April 2019
Not surprised
— Jotaro Kujo (@Primz9) 24 April 2019
True. We need a new LB, CB, back up RB, CM and 2 wingers
— Kyle Work (@kyle_work) 24 April 2019
With an ageing captain in Laurent Koscielny, an error-prone Shkodran Mustafi and Nacho Monreal’s contract expiring at the end of the season, defensive reinforcements are desperately needed.
Whether the club will make the required investment, it remains to be seen. Much may depend on the team qualifying for the Champions League. Despite the loss to Wolves, they are still just one point behind Chelsea in fourth with three games to go.