Written by Matt Stevenson
Here is the xG timeline for the Arsenal game. In that first half the play by Arsenal was the best I’ve seen from the opposition as they were creating numerous chances around the 1 in 10 mark with Trossard having 3 and Partey, Havertz, Odegaard and Rice all having similar efforts. Yet, somehow it was still 0-0 as we neared half-time. Then Odegaard found Havertz in space, who knocked the ball past Travers and made sure his trailing leg hit the keepers’ outstretched leg. The debate about clever play and cheating will continue, but we’ve seen them given many times. Saka put the penalty away cooly (about 4 in 5) and it was 1-0 Arsenal. At the break, the xG was Arsenal 1.97, AFCB 0.03. Arsenal started the second half with Saka having a good chance (1 in 4) but shot tamely at Travers. Between the 50 and 60th minutes, we began to trade blows rather than just receive them, with Solanke having our biggest chance (1 in 5) which was saved by Raya, and Arsenal having 1 in 10 chances from Saka, Havertz and Gabriel. The game settled down for 10 minutes until Trossard scored (1 in 7) following a superb flick from Rice who knew where his teammate was. Immediately AFCB hit back, with a disallowed goal which did not get added to xG. This was a very controversial decision, with Solanke penalised for the slightest of nudges on Raya but with Philip being fouled before this happened. It is hard to see how a penalty to Bournemouth or a goal was not the correct decision, but somehow VAR backed the referee (and presumably didn’t mention the foul on Philip). If it had gone to 2-1 it would have been a nervy 20 minutes. Arsenal seemed content to see out time and there were only 2 chances in the last 20 minutes, both to Arsenal, with Odegaard missing a very good chance (almost 1 in 2) and Rice scoring in the final moments after a run from deep. The chance was rated as 1 in 9 and Travers might look back and think he could have done better. Arsenal were clearly the better team, and Rice was excellent, but the refereeing decisions were still controversial. The final xG was Arsenal 3.38, AFCB 0.47. Understat had it more in Arsenal’s favour, at 3.91 vs 0.46.
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Man of the match against ArsenalO. Dango
Kluivert
Travers
Cook
Scott
Senesi
Solanke
Someone else
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The team was largely as expected apart from Kelly not being in the squad meaning Ouattara (11) played left back, which was concerning as he was up against Saka, although Dango played very well. Cook (4) played deeper than Christie (11) although he did move into the back line when Senesi (25) was replaced on 80 minutes. The first change was replacing Scott (14) who had been booked early on with Philip (29) although this change looked planned just before Trossard had put Arsenal 2 goals up. With 10 minutes remaining Senesi was replaced with Unal (26) who played furthest forward. In the 89th minute, Smith (15) who had been booked and Kluivert (19) were replaced by Aarons (37) and Faivre (8) with I think Semenyo (24) switching wings.
Senesi had the most touches in total (67) ahead of Zabarnyi (66). Christie and Semenyo had the joint highest number of touches in both the opposition half (26) and in the final third with 16.
AFCB had 11 touches in the opposition’s penalty area. Solanke had the most (5) followed by Semenyo with 3.
Zabarnyi attempted the most passes with 60, Christie attempted most in the opposition’s half (19) and in the final third with 11. We averaged 82% completion with five players having values over 85% (Zabarnyi, Smith, Christie, Cook and Scott).
AFCB attempted 13 crosses, being successful with none.
Our players tried to take on a man 22 times being successful 7 times. Kluivert was successful twice from 3 attempts, with both Cook and Faivre, being successful in their only attempt.
AFCB created 3 chances (1 big). Christie set up 2 of these. Arsenal created 20 chances, four big.
We had 7 attempts (1 big) noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections, or a defensive error and not created. We hit the target three times. Arsenal had 25 attempts, 5 big, and hit the target 9 times.
AFCB won 19 of 34 aerials duals. Ouattara won 5 from 5 and Solanke won 4 from 6.
AFCB won 14 of 27 tackles. Ouattara won 5 from 6 and Kluivert won 3 from 4.
Ouattara made the most defensive actions with 15. He made the most interceptions (3) with Cook, the most recoveries (8) and most clearances (4). Senesi and Zabarnyi made joint-most blocks (3). The total number of defensive actions was the second lowest this season after Nottm Forest away.
According to Opta, AFCB made one error leading to a chance (made by Christie).
The foul count was AFCB 12, Arsenal 15. Christie made the most fouls (3). Kluivert and Solanke were fouled four times.
The Opta expected goals had Solanke as most likely to score (0.22) with Kluivert (0.13) the only other player above 0,10, although this would change if the disallowed goal had stood. For assists, Christie (0.09) was top, no other player was above 0.05.
