Arsenal put in a record-breaking performance away to Napoli on Wednesday night, and Mikel Arteta has admitted the scoreline didn’t reflect that impressive display.
Speaking after Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Napoli on Wednesday, Mikel Arteta had plenty of praise for his team, but he also highlighted that in many ways it wasn’t a 1-0 performance.
“I think the team was superb, right from the beginning we attacked the game,” Arteta told CBS Sports. “We were really good in many phases, I think we were exceptional in the way that we break them down, against a team that are really well organised.
“The shame is that probably the performance and the amount of chances that we generated doesn’t reflect in the scoreline.”
It’s fair to say Arteta is not wrong there. OptaJoe highlights that Arsenal’s 3.81 open-play xG against Napoli was the most accumulated by an away side in a Champions League game since the start of 2021/22.
Scott Willis reports that Arsenal racked up the most non-penalty xG in any of their away games since January 2017. Opta Analyst reports that Arsenal’s total xG of 4.05 was the highest they’ve ever registered in a Chmpions League game.
Then the BBC reported during the game that Arsenal’s 24 shots was a club record for a Champions League away match, ever since the stats started being tracked in 2003/04. The Gunners ended up taking two more shots to extend that record to 26 before the final whistle.
To come out of a game with 26 shots, four expected goals, and only scoring once is very unusual. But Arsenal will be pleased they did at least get the win.
It was a completely dominant performance from the Gunners, with hosts Napoli only having five shots for a total of 0.22 xG. The problem was only with the finishing, as only one of Arsenal’s many opportunities actually found the net.
Funnily enough, matchwinner Martin Odegaard significantly overperformed against his personal xG total, with his goal coming from a match total of 0.15 expected goals. In a strong team display, the captain was on another level in more ways than one.
The task now is to be more clinical away to Sunderland this weekend.
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