Arsenal don't have a clinical finishing problem

It's much more of a injury to attackers and not creating enough chances problem

After any Arsenal loss or a struggle with form you will hear something like the following:

“Arsenal need to be more clinical” or “Arsenal need a killer”

This is simply wrong and misdiagnoses the problems that Arsenal have had this season.

Maybe this is a good time to start with laying out some definitions here.

Clinical finishing, at a team level, refers to the collective ability of the squad to convert scoring opportunities into goals with high efficiency and precision. It reflects a team's capacity to maximize goal output from the chances they create, while minimizing wasted opportunities.

This matches the spirit of the word clinical here, where we are describing cold, efficient actions.

There is just no way to square this widely held view with watching the Premier League this season and looking at the data.

Arsenal have been one of the best teams (3rd) at converting the chances that they create into goals.

This season, Arsenal have overperformed their expected goals by 14%. This is also a continuation of a larger trend under Arteta where Arsenal have consistently gotten more production out of the chances that they have created.