Tag: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Arsenal vs Leicester Premier League Preview

Arsenal vs Leicester: Can the Gunners hit ten in a row?

Solomon Fowowe Leave a comment

When the Premier League season began, Unai Emery’s rebuilding process had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leading the line for Arsenal. There was a fair bit of chop and change with Alexandre Lacazette getting regular cameos, however it took the fourth game of the season against Cardiff City for the Frenchman to lead the line.

For large parts of the games he started without Lacazette, Aubameyang was isolated. In the game against West Ham, the lanky striker was limited to 20 touches with none in the opposition box.

After Lacazette’s inclusion, Aubameyang was more effective with more touches in the box and more shots at goal, though he had less touches in total because he was shifted to the left side of attack. Emery persisted with the Gabonese for the first three games until he moved him to the left side of attack to accommodate Lacazette in the starting line-up. Read More

Arsenal vs Watford Premier League Preview

Arsenal vs Watford Preview: Can the Hornets defence stop the Gunners?

Scott Willis Leave a comment

This Saturday’s match-up is an unexpected top of the table clash. Arsenal have put together a run of four wins, moving from the bottom of the table up to a tie for fifth behind… their opponent this Saturday, Watford. Most people would have expected Arsenal to be near the top but Watford being among the top four is the big surprise from the early results.

Watford:

Watford have put together a legitimately good defence this season.

They are over performing their expected goals (‘xG’) this season but still have excellent statistics to suggest this could continue and isn’t just down to a hot goal keeper keeping out goals. They are allowing just 9.8 shots per match (fourth fewest in the league), 1.5 big chances per match (seventh fewest) and 4.7 shots from the danger zone per match (sixth fewest). Read More

Newcastle vs Arsenal Premier League Preview

Newcastle vs Arsenal Preview: Can Arsenal breakdown a low block?

Scott Willis Leave a comment

Arsenal have won two in a row to climb up to the top half of the table. Newcastle have lost two in a row and fallen into the relegation zone. This match is an important one for both teams coming off the first international break of the season.

Newcastle

Here’s their rankings for different statistics this season:

20th – Possession

18th – Shots

19th – Danger Zone Shots

17th – Big Chances

19th – Expected Goals

13th – Dribbles Attempted

4th – Average Pass Length

Rafa Benítez is a really good coach, but one thing he is not is a coach who will sacrifice defensive solidity to create scoring chances. With a challenging schedule including matches at Chelsea and against Tottenham and Manchester City, it is not surprising to see Newcastle at the bottom of most offensive categories this season.

As a team they have been in control of the ball for just 96 minutes this season, which averages out to 24 minutes a match. For comparison the average team has been in control for 34 minutes per match (this measure takes out all of the time that the ball is not in play and on average there is about 60-70 minutes of ball control per match). Read More

Arsenal Manchester City Preview

Arsenal vs. Manchester City Preview: The Emery era begins

Scott Willis 2 Comments

The blockbuster match up of the opening weekend of the Premier League is champions Manchester City coming to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City broke a number of records last season on their way to 100 points and now face the task of trying to top one of the best seasons of all time. Arsenal limped to their worst finish since 1994-95 and saw their legendary coach Arsene Wenger retire.

Manchester City Drop Attackers into Midfield

The backbone of Manchester City’s title team were Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva; both of whom in most systems would line up as attacking midfielders but in Pep Guardiola’s system were used as more traditional midfielders but with the freedom to attack. Having both start from deep allowed Manchester City to add another attacker to the starting XI while still having numerical superiority in midfield.

This also unlocked De Bruyne and Silva to post some of the best attacking numbers in the league even from a deeper starting position, coming up the second and seventh most highly rated by the Twelve model. Read More