Arsenal and Manchester United may not be the rivals of the late 1990s and early 2000s, however, it has not stopped the tradition of the pair being compared and debated from raging across social media and onto live broadcasts.
With both sitting on equal points in the league, Arsenal, in particular, have seen a serious rise up the table thanks to going unbeaten in their last six matches in England’s top-flight. Meanwhile, United have slumped under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who has struggled to use Ed Woodward’s acquisitions to the best of their ability.
With both sides on 14 points, further comparisons are trying to be made to separate the two sides beyond just their placing in the Premier League table.
Interestingly, Stats Bomb has taken into consideration team aggression to separate the two sides. The metric is determined by measuring the proportion of an opponent’s pass receipts that are tackled, fouled or pressured within two seconds.
For example, with Arsenal playing against Aston Villa last Friday had any pass from a Villa player receiving the ball from a teammate been tackled, fouled, or pressured this would have counted towards Arsenal’s aggression statistic.
The Gunners have been found to have the second-lowest aggression in the league, with Manchester United only just above them. Both Mikel Arteta and Solskjaer have been criticised for their team’s lack of pressing consistently across the season.
Arteta however has begun to act upon this and in particular, commented on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s improvement in this area after the match against Villa.
"I have never seen Auba transmit what he is doing now," Arteta said praising the Gabonese forward.
"Apart from the goals, the celebration when they put the ball in the net, do you see the way he runs? The purpose he has to press the ball, and when he takes it his movement, his link, how is leading the game - that is when he is changing the rest, not when he is static and then he puts the ball in the net. I prefer this Auba.”
Martin Odegaard was one of the few players in the games earlier this season pressing from the front but his overall performances have dipped and he was dropped last Friday.
Aubameyang has clearly stepped up and the aggression of the team as a whole is certainly being addressed by the Spaniard. Arsenal limited Villa to 46% possession last week.
The Gunners have averaged just 47.12% according to Wyscout this season showing that they are improving in recent fixtures. The 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace was not a great display but again Arsenal had ~54% of the ball.
Manchester United’s results are slumping and Solskjaer is under increasing pressure. Arsenal on the other hand are showing improvement and rising up the table. Clearly, this is a statistic Arsenal fans should bear in mind, but it is not one to concern themselves with as steps are being taken to address it by the players and coach.
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