Arsenal were dealt another severe blow in their pursuit of a Champions League finish, suffering a third defeat in a row in yesterday's disappointing 1-0 loss to Southampton.
The Gunners dominated proceedings with the ball throughout the first half and should have opened the scoring through Bukayo Saka, but the talented Hale End graduate's strike inside the box was denied by Fraser Forster. Against the run of play, the Saints took the lead in the 44th minute courtesy of Jan Bednarek, with the Polish centre back scoring his fourth goal of the season.
A similar pattern was observed throughout the second half in Mikel Arteta's men controlling the game and keeping Southampton camped deep within the own half. But despite the north Londoners creating chances, Forster continued to impress, making multiple crucial saves in key moments and preventing Arsenal from capitalising on Spurs' earlier slip up in the day in their 1-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.
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The worry for Arsenal this season has been the lack of firepower up top in their attack, with both Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah managing just four Premier League goals between them. But arguably the biggest concern for Arteta is the lack of chances his side are creating and statistically, this is supported.
Arsenal have created just 34 big chances in the Premier League, which puts them in 16th place, ahead of only Burnley, Newcastle, Everton and Norwich.
To put this number into more context, Spurs who sit second place in this metric have managed to produce a whopping 69 big chances, with Liverpool only managing more than Antonio Conte's men. Immediately, from Arsenal's perspective, this suggests that the man tasked with leading the line isn't getting enough opportunities to make the difference in the attacking third.
But having said that, a new centre forward who possesses sharper movement, is capable of running the channels, pins opposing central defenders and shows greater quality in deeper areas in linking attacks together would undoubtedly bring the best out of the other attacking players across the forward line and therefore the creative numbers should rise.
What is worth mentioning though is that the type of striker Arsenal can bring in will heavily depend on whether the club can secure Champions League football for next season.
