21- Shots Arsenal took in the entire almost 90 minutes of football

3 – Shots Arsenal took in the first half

10 – Key Passes Ozil made in the entire almost 90 minutes of football

0 – Key passes Ozil made in the first half

4 – Key passes Alexis made

2 – Key passes Alexis made in the first half

21 – Tackles Southampton made in the first half (of 25 attempted) — they finished the game with 45¹

21 – Interceptions Southampton made in the first half — they finished the game with 31

23 – Times that Arsenal lost possession in the first half in addition to the tackles and the interceptions — they finished the game with 42

19 – Tackles that Southampton average per game this season

19 – Interceptions that Southampton average per game this season

28 – Arsenal’s Average possession lost (combined dispossessed and bad touch) per game this season

110 – Percent chance that I’m telling you that teams have figured out Arsenal aren’t as good at possession football as they once were (right now, maybe) and that as a result those teams have taken to pressing Arsenal and Arsenal can’t handle the press. Even Burnley did it to Arsenal, as I wrote in my last column, they effectively doubled their tackles and interceptions output. I suspect it’s because without Santi Cazorla there is no one in midfield to carry possession out of the back but I’ll leave that analysis to others.

10 – Extra percent added to that last stat for emphasis

21 – The good news is that you go back to the 21 shots Arsenal took yesterday; that’s twice what Arsenal averaged (10.4) per game during the period Alexis was injured, and the 5 Big Chances Arsenal created were more than double what Arsenal have averaged (2.125) during the period where Alexis was injured, but incredibly Arsenal have also just gone three straight matches without a goal. Why? …

657 – Minutes since Theo Walcott last scored a goal (33′ v. Man City Dec. 21, 2015)

15 – Shots Walcott has taken in those 657 minutes

7 – Shots on target by Walcott in those 657 minutes

3 – Big Chances Walcott has got in those 657 minutes

12 – Big Chances Walcott has had this season

2 – Big Chances Walcott has scored this season

17 – Percent of his Big Chances Walcott is converting (2/12)

47 – Percent of his Big Chances that Giroud is converting (7/15)

40 – Percent of his Big Chances that Alexis is converting (4/10)

25 – Percent of his Big Chances that Özil is converting (2/8)

2 – Number of Big Chances Ozil had saved versus Southampton yesterday

4 – Total number of Big Chances Foster saved against Arsenal yesterday

69 – Big Chances Arsenal have created this season

23 – Big Chances Arsenal have scored this season

33 – Big Chance conversion rate for Arsenal

20 – Percent of Big Chances that Walcott and Özil have converted this season (4/20)

29 – Percent of Arsenal’s big Chances that have been taken by Walcott and Özil

What Arsenal’s conversion rate looks like compared to other teams:

(Leicester converting 48%, Spurs 50%, Man City 40% — if Arsenal converted even at Man City’s 40% rate, they would have scored 5 more goals than they have. If they converted at 50% it’s 11 more goals.)

If you want to take away a positive it is that despite huge pressure Arsenal are back to creating a lot of good chances. If you want to take away a negative from this game (you’re spoiled for choice!) you could choose Arsenal’s conversion rate or the fact that they can’t handle the press. Don’t choose both, it’s not healthy.

@7amkickoff

Sources: 442 Stats Zone App, WhoScored.com, my personal database

Qq

¹Alexis lost possession 9 times, Ozil 8, Giroud 7, Ramsey 5, Campbell 4, Walcott 3, Bellerin and Monreal 2, and Flamini and Koscielny 1