Arsenal vs West Ham: The Debrief

Arsenal slay a demon and head into the break on top

This particular fixture has been a bit of a bogey one for Arsenal. Not because they haven’t played well or that West Ham did anything especially well to limit Arsenal, it is just one of those that has turned out going against Arsenal.

That still makes it a bit more nervy than it looks on paper and it represented a chance to pickup points on last season’s results.

Arsenal came out with a lineup that was something that many had hoped for in the type of matches that you would expect teams that are sitting back against Arsenal.

We only got to see it for a brief period with Odegaard going out injured again in the first half, but after complaints about Arteta playing with the handbrake on, he set up looking like he threw it out the window for this matchup.

Overall, this was a fun match and a pretty stress free win that capped a nice weekend that see’s Arsenal go into the international break on top of the Premier League table.

Arsenal vs West Ham: The Graphics

Arsenal vs West Ham: The Debrief

21 - Shots from Arsenal in this match, that is now back to back matches with 20 or more shots in the Premier League.

3.4 - Expected goals for Arsenal, this is the most that Arsenal have had in a match this season

2.0 - Expected goals for Arsenal from open play, before this Arsenal had just 2.76 open play xG in the League this season. They had 12 open play shots in this match which another season high.

6 - Shots within 12 yards of goal, 16 shots within the penalty area.

It was really nice to be able to see Arsenal create a ton of chances and continue to pile on pressure in a match. We all would have love to have seen one of the early chances that Arsenal had converted but ultimately they got a lead in the first half and never really looked back after that.

We only briefly got to see Arsenal play with the double 10 system of Eze and Odegaard for a few minutes (Arsenal have announced that he has an MCL injury that will see him out for a few weeks). What I saw was promising with Odegaard staying primarily a bit deeper and to the left but freedom to roam, and with Eze playing more of the “10” role but off the left and a bit higher.

Looking at Arsenal’s final third passes there isn’t a massively obvious change in style (and really there can’t be with a team sitting back against you) but there did seem to be a few more chances for Arsenal to try and play through the lines and beyond the West Ham backline.

This is a continuation of a trend for Arsenal, against West Ham Arsenal completed 5 through balls. That is already the third time this season that they have had 5 or more completed through balls in a match this season and it is setting Arsenal on a pace that should see them blow away the other seasons under Mikel Arteta. Here are the matches with 5 or more through balls completed in a match since 2019-20:

• 2025-26: 3 so far

• 2024-25: 5

• 2023-24: 6

• 2022-23: 2

• 2021-22: 3

• 2020-21: 0

• 2019-20: 3

It has taken some time with the tough early schedule and the bedding in of all of the new players (mixed with the injuries) but it does seem like things are starting to come together a bit more for Arsenal’s attack and that is a major positive because it was really the only real weakness that you could point to for this current Arsenal team.

We take it for granted but again this was another suffocating match from Arsenal’s defense, between something close to the first and last kick for West Ham. They had two big chances, both from corners, one in the 1st minute and the other in the 92nd minute and between that they had just two shots with neither being valued at more than 4%.

Between those big chances, West Ham got into Arsenal’s box just 4 times and they really offered no threat at all against Arsenal’s defense.

We take it as a given but it is nice to be reminded every once in while how good this team is and they are spectacular at giving the opposition nothing at all in a match.

Timber continues to make his case as the best right back in the League

49 - Passes attempted, completing 43 for an 87.8% pass completion % and 106.4% Pass Efficiency

2 - Progressive Passes completed

2 - Key Passes for 0.02 xA

2 - Shots for 0.15 xG

5 - Progressive Passes Received

3 - Final Third Entry Pass Received

6 - Touches in the box, including a penalty drawn

6 - Tackles with 0 times dribbled past and 2 fouls committed. He has been dribbled past just 4 times this season. No other player who has attempted 20 tackles has a lower dribbled past rate then Timber this season (Timber is at 13.8%, the next best is 15.2%)

2 - Interceptions

3 - Ball Recoveries

2 - Clearances

When Arsenal signed Timber I was so excited for him and that was dashed a bit when he ended up suffering an ACL tear in his first Premier League match. He came back last season quite strong after that injury but to a certain extent that was still a bit of his adjustment period to a new League and a new team.

This season he has started to show that the promise of him being one of the best defensive prospects in the world was true and that even though Arsenal had a very good established right back option in Ben White with the team, he was here to steal that shirt and raise the level of the team.

It feels like there is some belief that he was signed to be a left back option but I don’t believe that. I think he was brought in to be the longer term right back as White got a bit older but he has just come in ahead of schedule and even that first season he was too good to be kept out of the team and even playing out of position was worth getting him in there.

If you could have pointed out a weakness in his game it was the final third actions and this season that has been a part of his game that has grown the most. He has taken a major step forward understanding when and where to pick his spots to attack and it has led to him finding himself in a number of amazing attacking spots. He still can improve his final action but the trend is moving in the right direction.

31 - Pass Attempts 21 - Pass Completed 67.7% - Pass% 72.0% - xPass% 94.1% - Pass Efficiency

5 - Progressive Passes

5 - Deep Completions (not Cross)

2 - Key Passes 1.37 - xA

4 - Non-penalty Shots for 0.86 xG

0 - Dribbles Completed out of 3 attempted and was fouled 3 times

5 - Progressive Carries

6 - Touches in the box

0.93 - xG Buildup

1 - Tackles 2 - Dribbled Past 2 - Fouls

2 - Interceptions plus blocked passes

4 - Ball Recoveries

This was Saka’s 200th appearance for Arsenal and he finished it off with a performance that has become typical for him, he was the best player on the pitch. It wasn’t a perfect performance and he still at times looks like he is playing within himself, careful not to push too hard and risk a re-injury of his hamstring but even like that he is an amazing player.

He also expressed a bit of his “Big Dog” status here, as the captain he took the prerogative when it came to taking the penalty that Timber won and he dispatched it without fuss to give Arsenal a nice 2 goal cushion.

Gyokeres results are still under the microscope

2 - Shots for 1.37 xG

8 - Touches in the box

11 - Passes Attempted with 5 passes completed for 45.5 pass completion % and 58.9% pass efficiency

1 - Progressive Pass

1 - Dribble Completed out of 2 attempted

2 - Times Fouled

3 - Dispossessed

4 - Miscontroled passes

3 - Progressive Carries

3 - Long Pass Received

8 - Progressive Passes Received

3 - Final Third Entry Pass Received

3 - Aerial duels won out of 4 contested

When Arsenal signed Gyokeres the idea behind the player was that he was a goal scorer, well he hasn’t scored in a few games and there are some signs of discontent in the fanbase.

I had skepticism about the player when he was signed and my expectations have been set to reflect that but overall still I have to say that I think he’s been about as good as I had hoped he would be. Some of the things I was worried about have not been as much of a weakness as I feared (things like hold up play) and he has shown that he wants to hunt getting himself shots.

In this game in particular he doesn’t have the prettiest stat line that you’ll see and the apps that do ratings will give him a negative score but I view this one a bit of the opposite of that thinking that he had a pretty valuable day for the team.

This is not the be all end stat, but my goal probability added metric that looks at a players actions effects on the team scoring back this up.

This is backed up by what Arteta said about him post match.

“I just went there and hugged him and said thank you because the work that he does is unbelievable for the team. The way he stretches the back four and the spaces he opens. I mean today how he hasn’t scored a goal, I don’t know!”

He has been doing a lot of the dirty work to make things work for the rest of the team, banging against center backs, running behind relentlessly, pressing and looking to be an option and threat. I still would like to see him get a few more shots on per game basis but the overall production that I have been looking at is trending towards him hitting my expectations for success.