Tactical analysis: Why are Arsenal scoring and Tottenham struggling

Arsenal are atop the Premier League table, with Liverpool standing a close second. When was the last time you said that?

After their opening day gloom, when they lost to Aston Villa, Arsenal have turned the corner to climb to the top of the pile, thanks in no small amount to their impressive performances upfront. Signing Mesut Ozil has been a huge fillip for the club, for their play as well as their morale, while others like Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey have stepped up their game as well.

However, a major factor in their success has been their decision-making. In previous seasons, Arsenal have been a team which has either tried to pass the ball into the net, or resort to long-distance shooting if they have not been able to penetrate past defences. However, this season has seen the Gunners take their shots from more high-percentage positions, which in turn has helped them find the net with more regularity, especially in a couple of tough games away from home.

As shown in the image above, Arsene Wenger’s side have taken 49 shots from inside the opposition box, which has accounted for 13 of their 14 goals so far.

Their high-percentage shooting has additionally helped them enjoy a better shot-to-goal ratio than most other teams in the league, as the Gunners lie only sixth in the league in terms of shots per game (14.4).

Across North London however, a look at Tottenham’s chart explains precisely why they have been playing well, yet not been able to earn the right kind of results. Having invested heavily in the summer to counter Gareth Bale‘s loss, the Spurs now play with a mostly new-look side, as players with little knowledge of the manager’s tactical setup and their teammates’ strengths have been played together, to rather mixed results.

In their 3-0 loss to West Ham United, which exemplified the side’s failures this season to date, Andre Villas-Boas fielded a starting XI that had just three players who had joined the Spurs before 2012. Those three, Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton and Andros Townsend, are incidentally some of the younger members of the squad, meaning that a number of players haven’t played with each other for too long.

Given the individual ability of the players at the manager’s disposal, Tottenham have been able to keep the ball for long periods of time, and currently rank second in the overall possession percentages in the Premier League (58.5%), as well as first in terms of shots per game (18.7 shots per game).

However, that dominance has not translated to goals or even clear-cut chances, as Spurs have found it difficult to break the opposition down and penetrate through the defence. The same was seen against West Ham, where the team enjoyed a dominance through the first hour, only to have no goals to show for it, following which they were jostled out of the game by the Hammers.

Unfortunately for Spurs, this has become more the rule than the exception for each of their seven games so far, a reason for the massive number of shots from outside the box, and the meagre 34 shots taken from inside it.

Manchester City, on the other hand, who are leading the goalscoring charts with 17 goals in their seven encounters, have seen a much better percentage of shots from inside the area, with a league-high 53 shots coming from inside the opposition’s box.

That number has helped translate into goals, also a telling reason why the likes of Sergio Aguero (4 goals in 5 starts) and Alvaro Negredo (3 goals in 4 starts) have hit the ground running in the early parts of the season.

It was clear that Tottenham would need time to gel as a team, but their chances of reaching the Champions League next term will depend on how fast they can get their act together and play like a cohesive unit, much like their cross-town rivals are doing now.

*Football graphics and stats from WhoScored.com and Squawka.com