Arsenal's Attacking Struggles: Why Set Pieces Aren't Enough

In that period Jesus has one goal and Leandro Trossard, who enjoyed a purple patch in December, has contributed a goal and an assist, both against Aston Villa. Out wide, Gabriel Martinelli has one league goal and no assists this season, although he has eight goals in cup competitions. Noni Madueke is yet to be involved in a league goal but has three goals in the Champions League. Even Bukayo Saka, who can normally be relied on, has two assists and no goals in the past eight league games, since coming off the bench to score in a 2-0 win against Brentford. Eberechi Eze has been struggling for form amid renewed questions about his best position. While Havertz has been managed carefully to gradually get him up to speed after a long-term knee injury, Arsenal have had to rely on Gyokeres and Jesus to lead the line. One reason Gyokeres was signed was to be the marksman to combat opponents who defend deep, in part because Arsenal like to squeeze the pitch. Gyokeres has provided little evidence of being that type of poacher and his lack of speed was apparent against Nottingham Forest last Saturday, when he tried to run clear but was closed down and had his shot blocked by Murillo. He had only ten touches in the game and was taken off, just days after producing one of his better displays against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg. This season Gyokeres has not registered a shot on target in 12 league matches and has not mustered a shot in seven games. That ranks him 13th for shots among strikers who have played more than 1,000 minutes in the competition. Defending his £64million signing from Sporting Lisbon, Arteta must feel he is on repeat. “It goes for all the No9s in the league and how difficult it is to play that position nowadays, with the physicality, with the dominance of the centre backs and the quality of them, and the lack of spaces during the match for them to exploit,” the Arsenal manager said. “But that’s about consistency, about going again. We know his work rate, he’s really trying to give his best and we need to continue to work.” Arteta sometimes likes his side to play longer and Gyokeres has been unable to hold up play like Havertz, who uses his frame to shield the ball and create space for the wingers. When Gyokeres was out with a hamstring injury, Mikel Merino replaced him and Arsenal scored 15 times in six matches, with only two of those goals coming from set pieces. While Arteta has said he considers Merino among his strikers, he is yet to play him over Jesus up front. Jesus is accustomed to playing in Arteta’s preferred style and system, but he too has a patchy record in front of goal, which may affect his Arsenal future, despite him saying on Monday that he wants to extend his contract beyond 2027. “I have been in the position that Viktor is in now,” Jesus said. “And it’s not easy. But I’m sure that everyone here, not only the coach and staff, the players as well, are going to support him and give him the belief that he’s here to help us. He helped with something apart from scoring: with movement or fighting, or anything to win. “Sometimes I give him some opinions and sometimes he does [likewise with me] as well. I’m sure he is going to find a way to do the same for us. You know, we have to take the responsibility to score goals.” Striking issues were on Arsenal’s mind when they had 46 crosses and lost 1-0 to Inter Milan, also in the Champions League first phase, last season. On Tuesday they return to play the Serie A leaders, targeting two points from their final two matches to finish in the top two in the table. Their reward would be to play at home in every second leg of the knockout stage, under a new rule this season. Should they finish in the top four, that luxury would be for the last-16 and quarter-final rounds. By then, Havertz should be up and running. Inter Milan v Arsenal Champions League, league phase Tuesday, kick-off 8pm TV Amazon Prime Inter Milan (possible, 3-5-2): Y Sommer — M Akanji, F Acerbi, A Bastoni — L Henrique, N Barella, P Zielinski, H Mkhitaryan, F Dimarco — L Martínez, M Thuram.