da prosport bet： The Gunners might no longer be in the race to win the league, but they can show the table-toppers all their potential in Sunday's showdown
da blaze casino： A quick glance at Arsenal’s squad and you’ll see an array of top-class attacking players: Alessia Russo, Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema, Caitlin Foord, Victoria Pelova – the list goes on. Yet, the Gunners’ statistics in the final third this season are among the worst in the Women’s Super League, with no side in the division under-performing its expected goals to a greater degree.
It was a problem that reared its ugly head again last Sunday, at Everton. Arsenal created enough to have won the game long before Russo broke the deadlock with just 10 minutes to go, and that wastefulness came back to haunt them when 16-year-old Issy Hobson became the youngest goal-scorer in WSL history deep into stoppage-time, salvaging a point for her childhood club.
“We need to be better in our effectiveness with chances today,” Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall said afterwards. “It shouldn’t come down to defending a corner in the last minute.”
The Gunners’ title challenge had fizzled out long before this result, and though there are a number of reasons why they’ve not kept up with Manchester City and Chelsea this season, the lack of a consistent clinical touch in the final third is at least one. As the attention turns to next season, it is a department Arsenal simply must get better in – and the good news is that there are reasons to suggest they will.
GettyNot good enough
The stats really highlight Arsenal's failings in front of goal this season. No team in the WSL has a greater negative differential between its expected goals and actual goals, the Gunners having scored four fewer than the metrics suggest they should have.
Arsenal have missed more big chances (as quantified by) than any other team in the WSL, only Everton and Tottenham have worse big chance conversion rates, and while Man City and Chelsea boast the best shot conversion rates in the league, the Gunners are seventh of 12 teams. To compete for a title, you have to be clinical – and Arsenal have not been.
AdvertisementGettyNo big-game problem
But what is so paradoxical about the Gunners’ season is that they have been great in the big games. They’ve beaten all of Chelsea, Man City and Manchester United, losing just two of their seven meetings with the rest of England’s ‘big four’. They’ve been a really potent attacking force in some of those games too, putting four past Chelsea in December and beating United 3-1 in February, and even have a trophy to show for their efforts after beating Emma Hayes' Blues to the Continental Cup in March.
“I think on so many occasions, especially this year, in top games against the best sides we've shown up and put in really good performances,” captain Kim Little said before that final. “We know we've got that in us. We know that we can bring that best out of ourselves whenever we are on top of our game.”
GettyFiguring it all out
If they can beat the best teams in the league by being on it in the final third, then why haven’t they been consistent across the season to keep up in the title race? Well, Arsenal have certainly struggled against defensive-minded teams and breaking down low blocks, with 12 of their 16 points dropped in the WSL this season coming against teams outside of that ‘big four’.
On top of that, it's fair to say that Eidevall is still figuring out how to get the best out of Russo after her summer move from United. Indeed, after playing the majority of her first season at the club as a No.9, the England star has moved into more of a No.10 role in recent weeks, which certainly highlights the point. She is still adapting to a different team, too, and the new relationships that need to be built with the players around her.
Some would also argue that Eidevall should have used Stina Blackstenius and Cloe Lacasse more this year, with the former only recently getting a run of starts at centre-forward because of Russo dropping deeper, as they’ve shown fantastic glimpses in their limited minutes.
GettyInjury woes
There is also the issue of injuries, which have really hit Arsenal’s forward line hard, with Mead and Miedema the two most significant names on that front. Both made their long-awaited returns from ACL ruptures in the first half of the season, and both have fared quite differently since.
Mead has played a lot of consistent minutes after coming back into contention in October, and there was a really exciting period in the weeks that followed where she was in top form. However, that level then dipped, serving as a reminder of the struggles that players returning from such long-term injuries face.
It can take months for them to really get back to themselves, and it’s just something that needs to be worked through. Mead is doing exactly that, with four goals in seven days in April certainly showing that she is on track to finding her best form again.
Miedema, meanwhile, has struggled for fitness and had to have more knee surgery in March, with her road back proving to be a little more complicated. Both have been huge parts of this Arsenal attack for several years, and so for the club to lose them, adapt to life without them, sign new players in their absence, welcome them back, then see them return to the sidelines or struggle for form, has understandably been difficult to deal with in terms of getting the best out of the attack.