Arsenal’s Away Record is the Worst in their Premier League History
(all stats for Premier League play only)
13 – Away games played by Arsenal in the Premier League this season
3 – Away wins by Arsenal this season
23 – Percent of away games Arsenal have won this season
15 – Goals for in away games by Arsenal this season
21 – Goals against in away games
13 – Points won in away games
1 – Points per game by Arsenal in away games this season
That average of just one point per game is the lowest of any Arsenal side in Premier League history. The second lowest total was 1.14 averaged in 1994/95. That was the season George Graham was fired for bungs.
Winning just 23% of their matches is also Arsenal’s lowest total in the Premier League era. What might be a surprise is that the second worst away record was netted in the 2000/2001 season when Arsenal won just 26% of their away games. That season was marred by a 4-0 loss to Liverpool and 6-1 defeat at the hands of Man U. Though Arsenal still managed to finish second.
Part of the problem is Arsenal’s attack. The Gunners have averaged just 1.15 goals per game, that’s their 6th worst offensive output in away games since the start of the Premier League in 1992/93. The very worst ever Arsenal offensive output in away games was that inaugural 92/93 season when the Gunners averaged just 0.71 goals for per game. Arsenal finished 10th that season.
But the real problem is Arsenal’s defense. Arsenal are conceding 1.62 goals per game right now on away days. That is actually the second worst defensive record Arsenal have had in the Premier League era, behind the 1.68 goals allowed per game of the 2011/12 season when Arsenal lost 8-2 to Man U and then went out and bought Per Mertesacker and a real midfielder, Mikel Arteta. Arsenal haven’t had a midfielder since Arteta.
You won’t be surprised to learn that Arsenal’s best ever defensive record in away games was the 2001/2002 season. That year Arsenal not only averaged 1.95 goals scored per game but only allowed 0.58 goals per game giving Arsenal an incredible 73% away win rate. That was the season Arsenal won the League at Old Trafford, 1-0 after all of the Neville brothers tried to stomp Arsenal’s players into the dirt.
The three highest away winning percentages were generated by that team, the Invincibles, and it’s no wonder that Wenger predicted they could go an entire season unbeaten. They were that good.
Errors Prove Costly
22 – Errors by Arsenal players this season leading to an opposition shot on goal
11 – Errors by Arsenal players this season leading to an opposition goal
Arsenal are top of the table this season. The errors table. With two errors for goals last night against Swansea Arsenal have now conceded 11 goals off errors this season, 4 more than the second worst team in this category, Southampton.
This isn’t really a new thing for Arsenal. They have been one of the most error-prone teams since 2012/13 when they allowed 14 goals off 39 errors. Interestingly, it looked like Arsenal had finally gotten the errors down to a dull roar last season when they allowed just 4 goals off 19 errors for a more “mid-table” errors feel to the team.
| Season | Goals | Errors | Rank |
| 2018 | 11 | 22 | 20 |
| 2017 | 4 | 19 | 12 |
| 2016 | 5 | 25 | 15 |
| 2015 | 8 | 25 | 13 |
| 2014 | 10 | 36 | 19 |
| 2013 | 14 | 39 | 19 |
But whatever confidence the team had been building in defense has completely evaporated and the Gunners are on track to concede nearly half a goal a game in errors this season.
Petr Cech leads all players with 4 goals conceded off errors, Bellerin leads all defenders with 4 errors (but thankfully only one goal conceded), and Granit Xhaka leads all midfielders with 2 goals conceded off errors.
Big Chances Conceded
Those errors last night, plus at least 3 others which weren’t counted as individual errors leading to a shot, led to Arsenal conceding five big chances against Swansea. That was only the third time this season that Arsenal have allowed the opposition to create five big chances in a match. The other two were Liverpool (0-4) and Chelsea (2-2). Arsenal have also only allowed 4 Big Chances in a game once (Liverpool 3-3).
Unlike all those other times, Arsenal weren’t under an enormous amount of pressure. If I total the interceptions and possession loss in Arsenal’s own half, it was just 6 times last night against Swansea (2 tackles – Xhaka and Ramsey; 2 bad touches – Cech and Elneny; and 2 interceptions). Arsenal lost possession in their own half 10 times against Chelsea (2 interceptions; 2 each for AMN, Alexis, and Iwobi and 1 each for Xhaka and Bellerin). And Arsenal lost possession 15 times in their own half against Liverpool (3 interceptions; Holding 4; Ozil 2; Coquelin 2; and 1 each for Ox, Giroud, Alexis, and Xhaka). The loss to Swansea last night wasn’t Arsenal under an enormous amount of strain from a highly active pressing team.
@7amkickoff
Sources: Opta via Squawka (errors) and Whoscored, my personal database, the Premier League web site (for the away matches records)
Totally unrelated but do y’all think Diego Simeone would be a good replacement for Wenger??
Have you ever felt like listening to Iron Maiden midway through a Bach sonata?
Bach sonata? We are more becoming more like an irrelevant indie band that sits in a corner bitching about all the auto tuned clowns in the music industry today.
the song is called, dance of the dead
I would take Inanimate Carbon Rod as a replacement for Wenger right now.
not sure how well he speaks the ole English. I know he has had success with A. Madrid, but they were pretty hard to watch at times. I don’t want Ancelotti either because he’s too similar to Wenger in that he just sends the players out and tells them to do their best/play their game. Not enough tactical coaching.
They should just ask Ozil who he wants!!! He’s on franchise player money now 🙂
I think we need a coach who is tactically versatile and at the same time install a winning mentality in the team and possibly someone who is more defensive . Allegiri is for me the best choice . Or dare I Say pochettino. Don’t know if we will get him but I think we were really close to him at one point just for Wenger to destroy all that by signing another contract by appealing directly to kroenke instead of the board.
Luis Enrique could be great. Had the Barcelona DNA having coached at both the youth team and the first team. Had relative success at a smaller club before that too.
Will focus on systems and tactics without necessarily compromising the fluidity of the football.
Important to remember, Champions League, Wenger and London (in that order) are probably the 3 most important reasons why Arsenal can somewhat compete with top European clubs for talent without paying insane wages. With no champions league and no Wenger, we need to bring in a manager who players will want to play for.
Despite what people say about Wenger, I think there are only a handful of managers in the world who have such a draw; Guardiola and Mourinho.
Didier Deschamp possibly.
I think the summer could be a watershed.
Weneger has a year left on contract but there will be a lot of National managers released following the Wcup and it makes sense that France offer Wenger the National job as he is now approaching the autumn of his career.
Did you watch the game or just input numbers coz actually Swansea were pressuring us very well, especially the strikers who were all over the defence.
Would kill for a midfielder like Arteta right now.
Would kill for a fit Santi right now
Agree but a fit Jack, IMO, is in the same mould. The midfield was just ‘toothless’ without him in the Swansea debacle
Cazorla is a much better passer and has better vision than Jack and although they both have great close control Cazorlas is better.
Santi does everything. Problem we’ve been having is replacing him bc none of our mids are complete as Santi was. Granit has the deep passing range and vision but not the defensive awareness and he can’t turn to save his life (to be fair nor Elneny or Ramsey) Jack has some of the dribbling/short burst ability of Santi’s to carry the ball forward up the vertical and the ability to hold the ball but isn’t as accomplished (yet anyway) Elneny is strictly defensive (at least) although I will give him credit he has improved his long passing which should put… Read more »
There was news recently that Song is about to become a free agent and is training with Arsenal.
Honestly, he would be an improvement from Xhaka.
We don’t seem to be interested in buying DM’s even if he is better. Plus he was also a half decent centre back at times. I’d get him back but I can’t see Arsene wanting to.
If anything, IF he impresses, maybe a very short duration half season trial contract whilst he waits for offers for a new club. BUT he most likely will be cover only. You never know though. All depends on the player. Is he a Flamini who is willing to give all? BUT he is not a solution long term. At the moment I’m beginning to lean toward Elneny as a safer choice holding but he has a lot of limitations too receiving the ball and going forward. He has high passing completion but many of the passes are backwards or sideways.… Read more »
Crazy that we’ve allowed another transfer window to go by without addressing that issue
Which is why I’m not so elated as many are with the transfer dealings. They were OK and mostly convenient for Mslintat but not necessarily addressing our balance or issues. But we now have a bit of a division with Wenger stepping away with transfer dealings. This is a good thing in long run but I feel the transfer team did not take into account adequetely all options nor our tactical disposition (in consultation with Wenger enough) or the strategic implications of some of the moves (particularly Giroud but also the Alexis sale to United) ..there were other potential options… Read more »
I would simply kill Xhaka
If we had a midfielder like Arteta right now Arsene would let him have one good season in his natural position & then absolutely ruin it by trying to turn him into a defensive midfielder (where his qualities are negated & his weaknesses amplified) just like he did with Arteta…
Well Wenger successfully converted both Arteta and then Santi from more offensive roles into tranquista type players.
Both were older and later in their careers but he leverage on their experience and common sense plus ball control ability.
Mhkitaryan?
Every goes on about the defence and I get it as errors in these numbers are not acceptable but the bigger issue for me is the midfield. If you start games with xhaka and Ramsey then you have two players who are slow, not very good tacklers and are not able to keep the ball. They are not capable of commanding the midfield other than the odd game here and there. I would sell both replace with two defensive midfielders and play one with jack and the other as back up. The defence would make less errors and concede less.
100 %
Xhaka and ramsey are shit
Just Xhaka mate, Ramsey is the best Box to Box player we have….and he does contribute defensively (remember the goal saving tackle vs Swans), he just needs to be told to be defensively disciplined….Xhaka just can’t simply be bothered…
You are right Mike, he is the best box to box we have, he’s just not that good and that’s why even that position needs upgrading if we want to challenge for premiership
@Stringer+Bell. Absolutely spot on. The Ramsey love in has to stop. No one is saying he’s Pole Pots evil Twin, just that he’s not very good at the job assigned to him in the area of the pitch he’s supposed to occupy. The stint that Wilshere had in the team only made this glaringly obvious
You sir are a 100% correct, Stringer + Bell, although I might differ regarding purchasing 2 DMs as I do believe that given opportunity and time, AMN is atheltic and tough enough to play this role especially as a back up. What bothers me most about Ramsey is at this point he should know his defensive responsibilities as a central midfielder and he does not seem to care enough about being disciplined for his team. Xhaka was a bad buy; a player who flattered to deceive. Instead of acknowledging the respective shortcomings of Ramsey and Xhaka and sitting them down,… Read more »
Chelsea have replaced Mourinho and Costa with Conte and Giroud. Are they making an effort to be more…..(gasp)…..likeable?! They just have to stop all the diving now.
Just need to replace Abramovich with a potato and I could almost start to cheer for them.
That’s quite a feat.
Crazy thing is there’s no respite in the horizon
Oh good, it’s just as worst ever as I thought. I seriously don’t know what’s going on with Arsenal this season. It’s like a 12 year old kid who sucks at FIFA is in control. That would explain both the results and the transfers… And seriously, forget the fact it’s January, when have we EVER had so much movement in a transfer window? At least they’re going to make the rest of this season interesting but how the hell does Wenger fix this défense? Is it a mentality thing? How can so many elite players be so thoroughly plagued by… Read more »
Exactly, Arsenal have been managed so so far below the sum of its parts. You cannot seriously say we have had the 5/6th worst squad in the league the last couple of seasons. Wenger doesn’t play players enough when he first signs them – xhaka, kolasinac, lacazette all turned up with confidence and match-winning performances – but months of being subbed off early, benched and left without instruction or direction has completely killed their confidence. And now recently he has been playing players too much, not benching them, not dropping them for mistakes and reinforcing this lack of structure and… Read more »
If you employ a 15 year old system where you’re happy for both full backs to push up field at the same time without having the defensive midfielders prepared to cover then you are left with 2 at the back open to the counter. If you do no coaching or planning for what the opposition might do, you’re playing blindly. You can have brilliant attackers but, if the opposition are gifted the incentive of a goal, they can just shut up shop ad Swansea, Southampton, Forest, Bournemouth etc have shown – and their defenders have nothing like the fees, wages… Read more »
There seriously needs to be an inquest into us wearing predominantly blue kits/awful looking third kits. We’ve lost 6 and drawn 1 out of 7 matches in the blue kit this season. The 8-2 (United) and 5-1 (Bayern) losses are just another couple to point out…
We lost 5-1 to Bayern in the home kit and yellow away kit. It’s not the kit that’s bad…
We don’t lose to superstitions, so don’t worry about what shirt/underwear you put on, which shoe goes on first or kissing the turf, ring, or badge, crossing yourself or shouting “Come on you Gunners, come on you Reds” as the whistle goes either.
We still do though?
I think it should say “Arsenal’s best ever defensive record in away games was the 2001/2002 season.” Instead of 2000/2001. Good read though.
So offense is bad and defence is even worse
….what’s left
Transfer policy! HELL YEAH
Is it down to the way we play or is it because as Theo so eloquently put it, the other team wants it more?
Firstly, the “average” was based on the 13 games played thus far, with another 6 to go. I’m not defending AW and am fully aware that our average might sink even lower given the way we’re playing away games currently. But just thought that to conclude that “it is the worst in their Premier League History” is a tad premature. Perhaps it should read “Arsenal are on course of registering the worst away record in their Premier League History”? Secondly, not sure if there’re data available but I thought it would be interesting to also see how the current away… Read more »
Depressing
We won the league at OT in 2001/02 and not 2000/01
Slightly inaccurate – we didn’t win the league at OT in 2000/01, it was 2001/02.
Since corrected, cheers
Six away games, against Stoke, Watford, West Ham, West Bromwich, Swansea and Bournemouth. 2 points from 18.
Only four goals scored. Those by Bellerin, Monreal, Mertesacker and an own goal.
All four put Arsenal 1-0 up. But we dropped 11oints from that position.
That points to some serious problems.
Bloody hell Jay! If it wasn’t Arsenal you would struggle to believe the above!
‘The three highest away winning percentages were generated by that team, the Invincibles, and it’s no wonder that Wenger predicted they could go an entire season unbeaten. They were that good.’
What’s the third team?
There’s a good striker at Everton who scored a brace last night, pretty cheap too – should we have gone for him?
We threw away the win by letting them equalise so quickly. Their back 5 was flat along the 18 yard line and the midfield four less than ten yards in front of that. Getting in front and staying there for a period was the only way of creating more space for the second. The first goal goes down against four players, Xhaka/Bellerin/Koscielny/Ozil – Ozil gets caught in possession and doesn’t work to get it back.. Xhaka gets caught static as Clucas runs by but he had a man inside and out, so Bellerin for not being in a sound enough… Read more »
Perhaps a bit off topic: we went quite strong on the market this winter to sort our frontline issues as we had good opportunities to do so… or if you prefer coz we were not able to keep Sanchez!
The club is going to go all in on Europa League, as they’re convinced that top 4 is beyond our capacity.
And next transfer window will be the Defense one ??
to be ready for 2018/2019
Will it be with a new coach? who knows…..
I am amused when our fans continue to blame players in Arsenal and continue to recommend bringing in new players. Have we not been complaining about our defensive frailties for about 10years ago? Where are those players we blamed as not good enough, have they not all gone? Arsenal team is brimming with current and ex- internationals brought in in defense ,midfield and attack ( check our squad list) , but the results are getting worse every year in the Premier League and Champions League.If international players brought in because they were scouted and found very good become bad in… Read more »
Out of curiosity, how does one actually quantify “errors”? I get that there’s some pretty obvious ones like Cech’s howler but who’s at fault for Swansea’s first and third goals?
What about when there’s a host of comical errors like Swansea’s second goal?