{"id":326993,"date":"2026-03-03T17:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/326993\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T17:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:20:08","slug":"in-defence-of-arsenal-is-criticism-of-premier-league-leaders-unfair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/326993\/","title":{"rendered":"In defence of Arsenal – is criticism of Premier League leaders unfair?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arteta and Arsenal<\/a> now have to hold the nerve we have all questioned.<\/p>\n

But it does seem somewhat contradictory to slate Arsenal<\/a> for their style when they fall short, then carp when they reach March in firm contention for all four major prizes.<\/p>\n

This is what Arteta means when he talks about the “noise” surrounding title races, especially if your club has not won one since 2003-04.<\/p>\n

And is the criticism of Arsenal<\/a>‘s systematic style actually fair?<\/p>\n

Arsenal<\/a> have scored the most goals (58) and conceded the fewest (22) in the Premier League. Their goal difference of +36 is therefore the highest.<\/p>\n

Predictably, Arsenal<\/a> are way ahead on goals scored from set-pieces, including penalties, with 21 compared to Manchester United<\/a>‘s 15 in second.<\/p>\n

They have scored 27.6% of their goals this season from corners, with 16. Spurs are top of that particular table, having scored 13 of their 38 goals from corners – a total of 34.2%.<\/p>\n

The Gunners have had more touches in the opposition box (981) than any other team. Liverpool<\/a> are second with 939. They are second with Brentford<\/a>, as measured by Opta statistics, on creating big chances. They have 87 compared to City’s 89.<\/p>\n

This points to efficiency and success – so far – this season, even though Arteta himself accepts things must be better than the panic-stricken conclusion to the Chelsea<\/a> win.<\/p>\n

He said in the immediate aftermath: “It is certainly something we will discuss as we have to improve it and do better.<\/p>\n

“I’m trying to stay calm, but we weren’t getting the control we wanted, especially against 10 men.<\/p>\n

“You see with every team that is winning games that everyone is suffering and the margins are so small. But it’s good.”<\/p>\n

City have suffered similarly stressful conclusions to their two most recent league wins against Newcastle United<\/a> and Leeds United<\/a>, but is this not what champions – or those wishing to be champions – do?<\/p>\n

Are Arsenal<\/a> also paying the price for the elite level football served up by Pep Guardiola’s City as they won six titles under the Catalan, and their closest rivals Liverpool<\/a> under Jurgen Klopp, who won one before his successor Arne Slot repeated the feat in his first season?<\/p>\n

Guardiola’s style has become the purists’ template, while Klopp’s explosive “heavy metal football” provided a thrilling counterpoint.<\/p>\n

Arteta has made Arsenal<\/a> more pragmatic in the attempt to finally bring that elusive crown to Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n

There is more than one way to win a Premier League title – and if Arteta’s earthy approach ends that 22-year wait, there will not be one person of an Arsenal<\/a> persuasion who will care what the critics say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arteta and Arsenal now have to hold the nerve we have all questioned. But it does seem somewhat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-326993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}