Arsenal have made more individual errors leading to goals than any other team since the start of last season, according to statistics from WhoScored.
The football statistics website tweeted on Monday morning that Arsenal’s 20 errors leading to an opposition goal was more than any of their Premier League rivals in the same period.
Arsenal: Have committed more errors leading to an opposition goal (20) than any other Premier League team since the start of the 2017/18 season
For more team stats — https://t.co/8amyfUDczo pic.twitter.com/mkLpIMJcqw
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) December 17, 2018
This stat probably won’t come as a great shock to anyone. If you’ve watched Arsenal play for the last year and a half, you’ll already know that the team are the masters of their own downfall.
This was evident again on Sunday when Bernd Leno rushed out to palm away a cross, only to miss it for Charlie Austin to head in a Southampton winner minutes from the end. If you’ve already conceded two headers and dragged yourself back into the game both times, you’d think the players would be ready for a third.
There are some mitigating circumstances this season. Arsenal haven’t had a consistent back four for more than a few games, with plenty of players having to fill in at the back.
We’ve had Granit Xhaka at left-back and centre-back, Stephan Lichtsteiner at centre-back, Ainsley Maitland-Niles at left-back and right-back, Carl Jenkinson at centre-back and left-back, even academy defender Zech Medley had to play out of position at left-back earlier this week. It’s no surprise some of those players are making mistakes.
Hopefully, Unai Emery can eventually sort out the defensive issues, but he may need to look into making a January signing to find some more consistency at the back.