Arsenal’s alarming stats: Same amount of goals as Heung-Min Son, sideways passing, foul throw issue and glaring errors leaves Mikel Arteta under real pressure

Losing a north London derby to Tottenham is never a pleasant thing for Arsenal.

This time, though, everything seems a lot worse with the Gunners ending Sunday in 15th place in the Premier League and their rivals sitting top.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette look dejected against Tottenham as Arsenal lose again

Mikel Arteta’s men, despite having a whopping 69.7 per cent of the possession, looked bereft of ideas as they lobbed crosses hopefully into the box.

Spurs’ well-drilled backline diligently defended each entry into their penalty area and rarely looked troubled by Arsenal’s advances.

This bears out in the statistics with them registering an expected goals value of 1.0 from 12 shots on goal, while only two were on target.

Heung-Min Son, the Spurs forward, has scored as many goals as the entire Arsenal team this season, having netted his tenth of the campaign against them on Sunday.

Just a few months ago things were looking so bright for Arsenal under Arteta – they lifted the FA Cup by beating Chelsea in August and then saw off Liverpool to add the Community Shield a few weeks later.

But leading bookmakers now have Arteta as the second favourite to be the next manager to lose his job in the Premier League, with Arsenal closer to the bottom three than top three right now.

These are just some of the alarming statistics which lay bare just how poor they have been this season…

Arteta is really struggling right now and just cannot get his side out of this rutGetty Images - Getty

Crossing

The big numbers coming out of Arsenal’s loss to Spurs were the amount of crosses they made during the game – 44.

That is a season high in the Premier League for any club, with just nine finding a Gunner and only two leading to a shot.

Another two ended up being followed by a Tottenham goal with Hector Bellerin twice seeing his balls across the penalty area resulting in counter attacks, finished by Son and Harry Kane respectively.

Across the whole season Arsenal are 18th for crossing accuracy, hardly great reading if it’s a big policy from Arteta.

Tottenham clear another Arsenal cross in the north London derbyGetty Images - Getty

Chance creation

For all their possession against Tottenham, Arsenal just couldn’t get meaningful shots on goal.

This is all with Hugo Lloris in goal, a man who was a serious doubt for the fixture and appeared to grimace on several occasions when he did have to deal with the ball.

But it wasn’t just an issue against Jose Mourinho’s men, it’s been happening all season long for the Gunners.

Their 105 shots this campaign is joint-15th in the league with only West Brom, Sheffield United, Burnley and Newcastle United below them.

They have also only managed 69 key passes, the fourth lowest amount, ahead of only Leicester (68), Burnley (64), and Newcastle (64).

This all despite making the fifth most passes into the penalty area and the fifth most passes into the final third.

Shots on goal

Creating chances is one thing, creating good chances is another.

The Gunners have only manged to register 1.5+ expected goals (xG) in a game on two occasions in the Premier League this season – on the opening day against Fulham (1.8 xG) and in the 3-0 loss to Aston Villa (1.5 xG).

It’s this poor performance in front of goal which has resulted in just two goals in seven games, and they haven’t managed more than two shots on target in their last five games.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sees a shot blocked by Toby Alderweireld against TottenhamGetty Images - Getty

Shots against

In only two games in the league this season have they conceded two or fewer attempts on their own goal, and on three occasions have allowed more than 15.

It should be noted their defence isn’t the real crux of the problem though as they have only allowed 14 goals, the joint-fifth best in the division, while their expected goals against is 14.4 suggesting they’re performing as they should be.

But in being so defensively sound they do appear to have sacrificed attacking intent and a better balance needs to be struck.

Harry Kane’s goal against Arsenal was rifled in off the crossbar past Bernd LenoGetty - Pool

Moving the ball

Lateral movements rather than progressive ones are also an issue with Arsenal moving the ball 2,365.8 yards towards their opponents goal per game, on average.

This is the 15th most in the Premier League, with only Burnley, West Brom, Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, and Newcastle United moving it forward less.

It’s even more troubling when the average they have moved the ball in any direction – 9387.1 yards per game – is the fourth most of any teams.

Meanwhile, they have made five errors leading to shots this season, the joint-third most in the division with only Liverpool (7) and Sheffield United (6) making more.

And to add to that they have had more foul throw-ins (5) than Premier League goals since the beginning of October.

Arsenal star Bukayo Saka struggles to get beyond Steven Bergwijn and Moussa SissokoGetty - Pool

It’s not making pleasant reading and matches with Burnley, Southampton, and Everton coming up are set to be a real test of their mettle.

These are games Arsenal absolutely must win if they are to get their Premier League season back on track and get the goals flowing once more.

Can Arteta right the wrongs at the Emirates or are the bookmakers’ suggestions he is on borrowed time correct?

*Taken from FBref, using data provided by StatsBomb