mustafi huddersfield — LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 29: Shkodran Mustafi of Arsenal reacts during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Huddersfield Town at Emirates Stadium on November 29, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Arsenal are top of the table for this ignominious statistic

Dec 5, 2017

Arsenal have made more errors leading to an opposition shot than any other team in the Premier League this season.

That’s according to WhoScored who claim the Gunners have conceded 12 shots through their own individual errors, half of which have resulted in a goal.

Arsenal: Have committed more errors that have led to an opposition shot (12) than any other Premier League team this season — 6 of those have resulted in a goal conceded pic.twitter.com/4iv95zNS6X

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) December 5, 2017

Anyone who watched Arsenal play against Manchester United at the weekend can’t be particularly surprised by these statistics. Every goal could be put down to some kind of individual mistake.

Laurent Koscielny gave the ball away for the first goal, and Nacho Monreal abandoned Antonio Valencia to chase the ball.

Then Shkodran Mustafi ignored Monreal’s calls to pass backwards to Petr Čech, eventually conceding possession and frantically charging up to try and win it back, only to leave a space in behind for Manchester United to score again.

Koscielny’s defending was also poor on the third goal as he was out-muscled by Paul Pogba, although that one was far less likely to go down as an error in the stats.

koscielny burnley — BURNLEY, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 26: Laurent Koscielny of Arsenal wears the Stonewall Rainbow Laces Campaign captains armband during the Premier League match between Burnley and Arsenal at Turf Moor on November 26, 2017 in Burnley, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

It wasn’t just this weekend either. Ever since the opening day of the season, Granit Xhaka gave the ball away to Leicester to counter and score. The Gunners have been the masters of their own downfall.

Some of the football Arsenal played at the weekend was impressive, just like it had been against Huddersfield a few days earlier. But when you gift a side like Manchester United a couple of goals at the start of a game, you have to accept the consequences of that.

If Arsenal want to compete for the title any time soon, or even just a Champions League spot, they need to get rid of these kinds of mistakes.