Arsenal are so far having one of their best Premier League seasons ever. The Gunners currently sit top of the table, two points ahead of Manchester City with a game in hand.
One of the most pivotal aspects of why they’re doing so well is their fantastic defensive record and the inclusion of William Saliba in the starting eleven from the beginning of the season, after he spent three years on loan in France.
This was further demonstrated in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium yesterday afternoon. Arsenal restricted the Foxes to only one shot across the entire 90 minutes & zero shots on target. This meant Leicester created the lowest amount of xG in a Premier League game for a very very long time (0.01 xG!)
Leicester created 0.01(xG) against Arsenal today – the lowest xG in a Premier League match since we began this account.
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) February 25, 2023
Mikel Arteta said in his post-match press conference after the game:
“I think defensively we were incredible because we restrict Leicester to one shot on target in the whole game at home is a difficult thing to do. The players did really well.”
Yesterday was Arsenal’s 10th clean sheet of the season which puts Aaron Ramsdale second so far this season, only behind Newcastle’s Nick Pope (12).
The last clean sheet Arsenal kept, before yesterday, was all the way back on 15th of January against their North London rivals Tottenham. Since that, in five Premier League games, Arsenal conceded nine goals with no clean sheet. Former Manchester United right-back, Gary Neville suggested that Arsenal should work on this sooner rather than later if they want to win the Premier League this season…
Gary Neville on Arsenal’s lack of clean sheets before yesterday’s win:
“One of the traits of a title run-in is if you’re conceding goals and teams think they have a chance of scoring, it’s very difficult to win a league, it really is.”
Clearly Arsenal listened & went out to prove a point yesterday.
There are no easy games in the Premier League, however Arsenal’s next five fixtures, as shown in the tweet below, are very favourable games. Let’s hope there’s more victories and more clean sheets to come…
The title race is well & truly alive with 14 games to go…
Here is Arsenal’s & Manchester City’s next five Premier League fixtures.
Arsenal currently sit top by two points with a game in hand. That game in hand is on Wednesday against Everton.
Bring it on…💪🏼 #afc pic.twitter.com/COGtJGJuVS
— now.arsenal (@now_arsenaI) February 26, 2023
