33 - Touches by Theo Walcott34 - Touches by Olivier Giroud4 - Failed dribbles by Giroud¹0 - Successful dribbles by Giroud and Walcott combined (0/5)21 - Touches by Lukas Podolski19 - Touches by Jack Wilshere3 - Successful dribbles by Wilshere and Podolski combined (3/5)2 - Key passes by each of Walcott, Arteta, and Wilshere¹2 - Total key passes by Cazorla and Rosicky2 - Walcott and Giroud combined key passes2 - Wilshere and Podolski combined key passes1 - Wilshere pass to Podolski on the break that really, really, really should have resulted in a shot but the pass was unusually poor from the Englishman67 - Combined touches of Giroud and Walcott66 - Touches by Per Mertesacker1 - Goals scored by Per Mertesacker73 - Touches by Laurent Koscielny1 - Assists by Koscielny7 - Aerial duels won by Koscielny (of 7!)¹140 - Combined touches of Koscielny and Mertesacker149 - Touches by Aaron Ramsey¹0 - Key passes by Ramsey3 - Shots by Ramsey¹3 - Shots by Giroud1 - Shots on goal by either player (Ramsey)4 - Fouls by Fulham's Enoh5 - Fouls by Arsenal's Ramsey¹1 - Ticking off for Enoh1 - Yellow card for Ramsey (which he didn't protest, because it was an intentional foul)1 - Foul by Arteta1 - Yellow card by Arteta129 - Passes attempted by Ramsey¹114 - Passes successful by Ramsey67 - Passes forward by Ramsey52 - Percent of Ramsey's passes which were forward53 - Season average for Arsenal passing forward26 - Percent of Ramsey's passes which were backward27 - Season average for Arsenal passing backward3 - Poor passes by Ramsey which probably stand out in your mind
Arsenal dominated possession so it's not unusual to see a low number of duels won. In fact, Arsenal won 12/14 tackles, 12/25 dribbles, and 12/19 aerial duels. And those 12 dribbles are the best total and the best percent since the win over Swansea. But Arsenal only won 6 dribbles before Wilshere and Podolski were introduced and 6/10 after. Jack tied Ramsey, Rosicky, Arteta, and Cazorla with 2 successful take-ons but he was perfect in his dribbles going 2/2 while Ramsey struggled going 2/5.
71 - Percent of possession to Arsenal768 - Passes Arsenal attempted (season high)407 - Passes Arsenal attempted forward (season high)285 - Passes Fulham attempted157 - Passes Fulham attempted forward53 - Percent of Arsenal's passes which were forward against Fulham (season average for Arsenal)55 - Percent of Fulham's passes which were forward558 - Season average Arsenal passes12 - Average number of chances Arsenal create per game from a pass this season46.5 - Average number of passes per chance by Arsenal this season7 - Number of chances Arsenal created by a pass against Fulham110 - Number of passes per chance by Arsenal against Fulham237 - Number of passes in the Fulham final third251 - Number of Arsenal passes in the Reading final third (season high)14 - Number of chances Arsenal created that day against Reading18 - 1 chance every 18 passes in Reading's final third that day34 - 1 chance every 34 passes in the Fulham final third
It might, just might, have been a problem not with the passing forward, but with the creating chances. Or as Wenger likes to say, the final ball.
Another way to look at how attack minded Arsenal were or were not is in the number of clearances that Arsenal force the opposition to make and vice versa. So, for example, if Arsenal have to make 40 clearances and the other team only has to make 10 then you could reasonably say that Arsenal was under a lot of pressure from the opposition.
Over the season, Arsenal generally have the upper hand in this, forcing their opponents to make more clearances than their opponents force them. Against Everton, Arsenal were only forced to make 18 clearances while Everton sat back and soaked up pressure making 35 clearances, nearly double. Against Norwich the contrast was even stronger, 15 Arsenal clearances to 39 for Norwich. And why everyone was so nervous about West Brom was because Arsenal hoofed the ball out 41 times compared to 14 for perfidious Albion.
Today against Fulham, Arsenal were 17/24 clearances (which is a very healthy 71% — season averages about 57%) and Fulham were only 8/19. So, despite Arsenal's positional dominance, passing dominance, possession dominance, shots dominance, etc. there is a hint there that Fulham was at least as attacking as Arsenal and perhaps, it could be argued, were probably unlucky not to get a point.
Follow Tim on twitter @7amkickoff and on 7amkickoff.com¹ Led all players on the day² Led his team on the day³ PROFIT!
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