What were Arsenal the best at in the Champions League?

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Mikel Arteta has been engaging in some mental gymnastics this week.

Before Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, Arteta had his tongue firmly in his cheek when suggesting his side should have two domestic titles to show for their efforts in recent seasons.

“Winning trophies is about being in the right moment in the right place,” Arteta told reporters.

“Liverpool have won the title with fewer points than we have in the last two seasons. With the points of the past two seasons, we have two Premier League (titles).”

Ignoring the fact that the season still has three weeks left, Arteta was doing his best to protect and promote a squad that he has built since he arrived in 2019.

A gallant effort at the Parc des Princes was not enough to overturn a 1-0 first-leg defeat against PSG. Arsenal started strongly — and should have scored in the opening 20 minutes — but eventually ran out of steam against an organised, elite Luis Enrique side.

After the game, Arteta told reporters: “I am very proud of the players — 100 per cent I don’t think there’s been a better team (than Arsenal) in the competition from what I have seen, but we are out.

“This competition is about the box, and in both boxes are the strikers and the goalkeepers — and theirs was the best in both games.”

There was truth to Arteta’s response. Gianluigi Donnarumma pulled off some excellent saves, especially in the early stages of Wednesday night, while some excellent finishing from PSG on either side of half-time was enough to secure the victory.

A glance at the expected goals (xG) tally (illustrated in the match dashboard below) could give Arsenal fans a case for arguing they were the dominant side — winning the ‘xG battle’ across both legs. However, game state is important and Arteta’s side were chasing the tie from the fourth minute of the first leg onwards. They were compelled to attack to stand a fighting chance of remaining in the competition.

We don’t need to live in a binary world where everything is either the best or the worst thing in football.

There is nuance, complexity, and context that sit behind every game that we consume. A fair assessment would be to say that Arsenal were not the best team of the remaining semi-finalists, but they are still an incredibly strong side on the European stage.

So what were Arsenal the best at in the Champions League this season?

In short, nothing is popping out in the numbers.

Arsenal have put together an excellent campaign in Europe, and getting to the latter stages of the tournament should be commended. However, it would be disingenuous to suggest that they lead other teams in crucial metrics.

We are dealing with small samples at the best of times with Champions League football, but let’s rattle through a few key metrics.

Have Arsenal been the most intense pressers? Sadly not — a PPDA (passes per defensive action) of 13.4 across the knockout phase puts their press as the ninth most-intense among the final 16 teams.

They did squeeze the pitch well to regain the ball high up, winning possession in the attacking third on 5.5 occasions per 90 minutes. Was that the best on record? No, that would go to Bayern Munich, who averaged a rate of 6.9 high regains per 90.

OK, fine, let’s strip things back to goals.

Arsenal’s 5-1 and 7-1 thumpings of Sporting CP and PSV — not to mention three 3-0 home wins against Monaco, Dinamo Zagreb and Real Madrid — showed that they can turn things on in Europe, especially given their struggles to break down deep defences on the domestic stage.

Did they average the most goals in the competition? No, fellow defeated semi-finalists Barcelona have been more free-scoring, averaging three goals per 90 minutes — edging out Arsenal’s average of 2.2 goals across their 14 games.

What about the other end of the pitch? Again, so close. An average of 0.71 goals conceded per 90 minutes is the second-best defensive record, behind title rivals Liverpool, who were knocked out in the round of 16 despite finishing top of the league-phase table, conceding just 0.58 goals per 90 in this year’s competition.

Territory? No, Arsenal did not have the highest ‘field tilt’ (share of possession across the respective attacking thirds), with Manchester City’s 79 per cent the biggest share in Europe this season. Arsenal’s 59 per cent field-tilt figure is above average.

More on their possession game? We could look at how much Arsenal looked to control their games by exploring their volume of sequences with nine-plus passes. With an average of 16 per 90, it edges above the competition average but still ranks 16th among the 36 teams that qualified this year.

How about their commitment to their attacking flanks? Almost.

Despite Bukayo Saka missing three months through a hamstring injury, Arsenal remain staunchly dedicated to targeting their attacks down their right flank. Is this the highest share of any side? Well, it is the fourth-highest behind Bologna (41.1 per cent), Atletico Madrid (42 per cent), and Slovan Bratislava (43 per cent).

Set pieces? Long throw-ins were a new feature up the sleeve of set-piece coach Nicolas Jover on Wednesday evening, with Thomas Partey launching 11 throws into the penalty areas from the attacking quarter of the pitch. That is more than any game in all competitions since Arteta arrived in 2019.

Ultimately, it was a fruitless act as Arsenal failed to convert from the chaos that ensued from their set-piece routine. Arteta’s side have been decent from set pieces in Europe this season — scoring five and conceding just two — but when adjusted for opportunity, they have not stood out from the pack.

Pride should justifiably be one of the overriding emotions that Arteta will feel after Arsenal’s Champions League journey ended in the French capital.

Arsenal were undefeated against every team they played, barring this year’s finalists — they also lost 1-0 against Inter during the league phase. They also managed to beat PSG 2-0 in their October clash at the Emirates.

A convincing quarter-final victory against holders Real Madrid would also give any manager confidence that their side is among the best teams in Europe.

That still remains the case, but to suggest that Arsenal have been the best team in the competition… that might be a stretch too far.

(Top photo: Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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