Risk

At time of writing I have watched the AC Milan game in full and I saw the highlights of the Newcastle game but, already, my mind is racing at the possibilities for next season. Arsenal have signed six players so far this summer and that tells you that greater squad depth is important this season after 2024-25 was almost entirely destroyed by injuries. Here are three things I am curious / excited about for next season.

DIRECTNESS IN ATTACK

Nowadays I find a lot of football analysis curiously emotionally charged and I am not sure that I like it. Football is a game that provokes emotions, clearly and that is part of its appeal. But when analysing the game emotions are good servants but bad masters, yet there seems to be a move towards very emotionally charged analysis.

Arsenal’s attack last season was a little laboured and a little predictable, this was exacerbated by the long-term absences of Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka. I found it curious that so much of the mainstream analysis of Arsenal seemed to suggest that Arteta wanted his team to be constrained when they went forwards. I found that a very emotional take driven by the personal dislike some commentators have for Arteta.

Sometimes it isn’t just the players that you sign but the players you try to sign that tell you about a manager’s true vision. Arteta tried to sign Mykhailo Mudryk in 2023, Benjamin Sesko in 2024 and Ollie Watkins in 2025. It is obvious that Arteta has wanted greater fantasy and unpredictability in the final third for a while (he and Arsenal can be criticised for a lack of execution, of course).

The signings of Viktor Gyokeres and Noni Madueke are, very, very clearly, an attempt to shift Arsenal’s play in the final third into something more assertive, chaotic even. From Phil Costa’s player profile of Madueke ‘per FBRef data, he currently sits in the 95th percentile for progressive carries (6.82 per 90) and the 98th percentile for carries into the box (4.12 per 90).

‘More impressively, he ranked first among all Premier League players last season for shot-ending carries per 90 (1.63) and averaged more shots per 90 than any other top flight winger (3.64).’ Madueke doesn’t check his shoulder to make sure the defensive porridge is juuuust right behind him before running at a full-back. He is less likely to check inside and tuck the ball back to Zubamendi, Rice or Saliba.

As a centre-forward, Gyokeres is similarly lacking in subtlety. Every clip I have seen of the guy sees him sprinting over hot coals to try to get a shot at goal. Often when he does get a shot off, he hits the ball like its his worst enemy. He plays like a great white shark, if he stops moving forwards he will stop breathing.

This piece by Lewis Ambrose includes some really interesting data on Gyokeres. ‘[last season] He took 25 shots following a successful take-on. In Europe’s top five leagues, only Lamine Yamal, Vini Jr and Jamie Gittens (all wingers) recorded more. Of those 25 successful take-ons, nine led to a goal. The most in Europe’s top five leagues was six.

‘Gyökeres completed 97 (3.11 per 90) carries into the penalty area across the league campaign. Another look to Europe’s top five leagues and you’ll see only Mohamed Salah, Vini Jr and Jeremy Doku managed more.’ The commonality between Madueke and Gyokeres is that they get to the bloody point and Arsenal could certainly do with that in attack.

DYNAMISM IN MIDFIELD

The base of the midfield has, in my view, been a slight weakness for Arsenal for a few seasons now. Jorginho and Thomas Partey could circulate the ball but neither were the most dynamic athletes. Partey was a liability in defending transition and had more braindead moments in possession than I cared for.

The signing of Martin Zubimendi looks to me like the upgrade more befitting of a team pursuing the Premier League and Champions League titles. Zubimendi has greater athleticism and sometimes will even push on from his post and join the press out of possession. With Declan Rice beside him I think there is greater potential for the players to interrelate more than Rice could with previous partners who he often had to bail out with his superhuman athleticism.

I felt Jorginho had a little more panorama with his passing than Partey, who had a good disguise on his pass but a heavy bias towards side footed passes to the right. I think Zubimendi has more clubs in his bag when it comes to passing. He is more capable of a switch of play and is strong off both feet.

Again, per Phil Costa’s profile of the player, ‘Zubimendi isn’t really a deep-lying playmaker who makes 110 passes-per-game at 95% completion rate, or a destroyer who darts around like an attack dog, snapping into challenges and hoovering up loose balls – but more a hybrid of both…Zubimendi averaged the second-most line breaking passes in LaLiga (141) last season.’

As well as (hopefully) introducing some five alarm chilies in attack, how Arsenal get the ball from C to B ought to change too. Arteta seems to have moved away from having a rhythm section at the base of the midfield and more towards a virtuoso lead guitarist. A lot of the additions that Arsenal have made this summer seem to be geared towards less braking and more accelerating and that seems welcome and exciting to me.

NWANERI CENTRAL

With Ethan Nwaneri (who must surely be considered a late prime veteran in light of Max Dowman’s emergence) about to sign a new contract with Arsenal, a lot of the reporting suggests that Arteta sees him more in the Odegaard role than the Saka role to the right of Arsenal’s attack. That reporting has been backed up by what we have seen in both friendlies so far.

Nwaneri has started the AC Milan and Newcastle games in Odegaard’s ‘right eight’ role. However, he has not played it in the same way as Odegaard. I am not sure what the captain does is really achievable for an 18-year-old. What has interested me in these friendlies is that Nwaneri seems to be drifting a little less towards the right and a little more towards the centre.

In the AC Milan game, it felt like Rice and Norgaard formed more of a double pivot behind Nwaneri. In build-up, Arsenal often ended up in a 422 shape with Havertz coming short as a left 10, Nwaneri as a right 10 with Rice and Norgaard parallel behind them. Nwaneri’s superpower is his shooting.

Last season, Arsenal really struggled to access central locations and some of this, in my view, was because the poles between the right and left eights were too defined with Havertz also dropping into these positions. During the Milan game, we get Nwaneri’s outstanding spin and shot from the edge of the area. Look at the position Nwaneri is in when the ball is passed to him before he avails of his superpower, spinning and shooting.

It suggests that just because Nwaneri might be asked to play in Odegaard’s position, it doesn’t mean that he will be asked to play like the Norwegian. Everyone knows how Nwaneri likes to shift and shoot on his left foot from the right side and during the final weeks of last season, we saw teams shutting it down more effectively.

But he can use that attribute from more central areas too- it doesn’t always have to be a shift and shoot into the far corner. He can help Arsenal access more central areas and that can help him to fire those rockets. Arsenal took 5 shots per 90 from outside the penalty area in 2023-24 and that dropped to 3.8 per 90 last season. Trossard also tried a stinging shot from range in the second half of this game.

With Zubimendi taking on more risky passes, Madueke and Gyokeres taking on more risky dribbles, I would not mind betting that Arsenal also focus on taking on more risky shots. Madueke and Gyokeres can help with that and so can Nwaneri. Having a run-in-behind striker like Gyokeres can also create the space for some of that long-range shooting.

Or else if defenders fear the possibility of a howitzer from distance, they might just leave their station to try to close down and vacate space behind them for a slipped pass. All in all, I really think Arteta and Arsenal are trying to create greater diversity and greater unpredictability in the way they probe and attack teams next season by introducing greater risk in their passing, dribbling and shooting.

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