Arsenal 3-1 West Ham: The Debrief
A statement win for Arsenal with all the world watching
Arsenal ended Boxing Day in style. Some of what they played last night was absolutely top-tier and exquisite. There were indeed signs of rust, especially in the areas of the pitch where timing is critical around both boxes, but ultimately this looked like roughly the same Arsenal that we watched back in November who were deserving leaders at the break.
Arsenal came out with a strong lineup, with William Saliba really the only surprise here and looked normal with their 2-3-5 in possession shape.
The rest of December and January will be a real test but things are back off to a good start. If the team was able to return to this baseline this quickly, that should make it easier to handle the coming matches.
#Dominance
16 - Shots from Arsenal in this match. Led by Martin Odegaard’s 6 and Eddie Nketiah’s 4. Part of the rust that was apparent was that in the first half Arsenal only generated 6 shots, with so many nearly moments from their territorial dominance. It was good to see that was mostly a blip and by-product of West Ham really congesting the space around the box.
7 - Times this season that Arsenal have managed to take 16 or more shots, Arsenal have 6 wins, 0 draws and just one loss in those matches. This is a nice continuation of last season where Arsenal had 17 such matches, including 10 of 19 in the second half of the year.
7 - Non-penalty shots for West Ham in this match. These shots had an average distance of 24.2 yards from the center of the goal, which is the longest average distance that Arsenal have forced this season.
0.03 - xG per shot from West Ham, that is the lowest average shot quality Arsenal have allowed this season.
12 - The number of times this season Arsenal have conceded 10 or fewer shots in the Premier League.
61 - Deep touches for Arsenal
19 - Passes completed into the penalty area by Arsenal, 22 if you count set plays.
16 - Deep touches by West Ham
2 - Passes completed into the penalty area by West Ham
Overall this was a very effective match for Arsenal gaining possession and progressing the ball up the field.
Martin Odegaard conducts the orchestra
77 - Touches for Odegaard
39 - Touches in the final third' leading all players
4 - Touches in the box
10 - Progressive passes received (tied for second most)
2 - Dribbles completed of 4 attempts, leading all players
2 - Times fouled
13 - Progressive carries, leading all players
9 - Shot creating actions, leading all players
3 - Key passes, leading all players (not counting his shot pass that turned into an assist)
0.7 - Expected Assists, leading all players
2 - Assists
14 - Progressive passes, leading all players (this equals the entirety of the West Ham team)
8 - Passes completed into the penalty area
6 - Shots, leading all players
0.31 - Expected goals
0.75 - xG Chain, second highest
1 - Tackle
1 - Blocked pass
7 - Ball recoveries, including 3 high ball recoveries
This was a special performance from Arsenal’s captain. He looked like a player with a point to prove, perhaps because he didn’t get to shine on the biggest stage of the World Cup, or perhaps just because he hadn’t Ben able to really show what he is capable of in a real match for the last few months. In this match pretty much everything ran through him when the ball got near the attacking end. From there Odegaard was able to find pockets of space amongst the 8-9 West Ham players and pry them apart.
In this match his control and ability to move the ball out of the reach defenders was the best I had ever seen it. He would find little pockets and find a lane for a pass and when it came in, it stuck to him. Not only that but his first touch was often perfect setting up his next action. On a day where some of the final movements weren’t quite there (especially in the first half, where it still looked like players were getting back to know each other) Odegaard provided the needed thrust to create danger.
Eddie Nkethiah quiets some critics
4 - Shots, 0.5 xG, and 1 goal
34 - touches
19 - Final third touches, including 7 in the box (tied for most among all players)
9 - Progressive passes received, tied for second most among all players
91.7% - Pass completion on 22 of 24 passes.
Adam has already done a deep dive into this performance but I also wanted to highlight him.
This was a match where he probably put an immense amount of pressure on himself. Was it perfect? No but he did show solid ability to hold the ball up (I thought his strength and ability to get a defender leaning to roll the other way were exceptional here) and link play. He looked a touch tentative in front of goal, with a couple times where he might have been caught between different options and didn’t really fully commit to either of them. Ultimately this was a very good game, and one where getting on the scoresheet will help make it obvious for people who might have overlooked the subtle impacts he made earlier.