“If we don’t score goals, we can do nothing.”
Those were the words of Mikel Arteta after he had watched his side fail to find the net in the Premier League for a fifth time in seven games, on Sunday.
The 2-0 defeat at Tottenham left Arsenal languishing 15th in the table, 11 points behind their table-topping neighbours and just seven above the relegation zone. It also condemned the Gunners to their worst league start in 39 years.
Just four months after lifting the FA Cup in such impressive style at Wembley, crisis mode has returned to Arsenal and the reason for the problems is obvious to everyone.
Arteta’s side have scored just 10 goals in their opening 11 league games this season – only the bottom three of Burnley, West Brom and Sheffield United have scored fewer.
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When you consider eight of Arsenal’s goals came in their first four games of the campaign, you get a clear picture of exactly why they have started tumbling down the table at such an alarming rate.
“We need to score goals. If not, it's unsustainable,” Arteta bemoaned in the aftermath of the north London derby defeat. “It doesn't matter what we do in the other departments on the pitch, if we don't score goals, we can do nothing.
“So, we need to put the ball in the net, urgently.”
The problem for Arteta is that Arsenal’s issue isn’t just about scoring goals, it’s also about creating opportunities.
Opta stats show that Arsenal have fashioned just 65 chances in the Premier League this season – the fewest of any of the teams in the English top flight.
It is no surprise, then, to see them struggling in front of goal, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette continuously starved of decent service.
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Aubameyang failed to muster a single shot on target against Tottenham and his strike at Fulham on the opening weekend of the season remains his only league goal from open play in the current campaign.
A player who has been so prolific since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2018 is now on his worst barren run since the end of the 2013-14 season.
“The main goalscorer of the club at the moment isn't scoring, so my biggest concern is how to help him score because we need his goals,” said Arteta.
“How important Auba has been for this club in the last two years and how the goal sheet has been shared among the squad tells you his importance. He needs to be scoring goals if we want to be successful.”
Recent games have seen a definite shift in the way Arsenal attack, with Arteta clearly looking to utilise the wide areas and get balls into the box.
His side produced 44 crosses against Spurs on Sunday – the most by any Premier League team this season and the most by an Arsenal side since they beat Leicester 2-1 in February 2016.
Against Wolves the previous week, Arsenal sent in 33 crosses, which prompted Arteta to say: “I think it’s the first time in the Premier League that we have put in so many.
“I’m telling you that if we do that more consistently, we are going to score more goals. If we put the bodies we had in certain moments in the box, it’s maths, pure maths and it will happen.”
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Unfortunately for Arteta, it’s not as simple as that. For his side to take advantage of so many balls into the box, the deliveries have to be decent and this is an area where Arsenal struggle.
In all, they have sent in 225 crosses in the Premier League this season – only Leeds (233) and West Ham (232) have delivered more. But when you look at crossing accuracy, Arsenal rank 18th out of 20, with a success rate of just 16.9 per cent.
It’s a similar story when you explore the stats for open-play crosses, where Arsenal actually rank first in the top flight this season with 170, but again the accuracy of those deliveries stands at a below-average 17.1%.
With Mesut Ozil continuing to be ostracised, you can see why Arteta is looking to the flanks as a way of creating chances, as there is a genuine lack of quality in his squad when it comes to creativity in the central areas.
Ozil has not played for Arsenal at all this season, with his last appearance coming in the 1-0 win against West Ham in early March – a game in which he provided the match-winning assist.
Yet despite his prolonged absence, only five players have created more chances for the Gunners since Arteta’s arrival last December. It’s a statistic that makes Arteta’s explanation that Ozil has been cast aside purely for "football reasons" so difficult to believe.
“When you have possession or you need to find that little cute pass, I don't think there are many better players than Mesut in doing that,” Gunners legend Freddie Ljungberg told Sky Sports this week.
"I don't know why the decision was made, that he is outside of the 25-man squad and they can't use him. But for those things, I don't think there are many better players in the world."
There’s no doubt Arsenal are missing Ozil’s creative qualities this season. The German’s best days may be behind him and his numbers in terms of assists may have dropped sharply in the past two seasons, but he remains Arsenal’s most prolific playmaker.
Thomas Partey was signed on deadline day to be the much-needed link between the midfield and attack, and to break the lines with his ball-carrying qualities, but injury has limited the Ghana international to just four league starts and it could be January before he is fit to return again from the thigh problem that forced him off at Tottenham on Sunday.
Arteta knows he needs better options and it could be that the Gunners dip into the transfer market next month to bring in at least one new addition to bolster their attack, with Dominik Szoboszlai at Red Bull Salzburg a target, along with Lyon’s Houssem Aouar – a player Arsenal tried and failed to sign last summer.
The Spaniard’s long-term vision is to set Arsenal up in a 4-3-3 formation, using several players who can interchange throughout the final third in the type of system we have seen Manchester City and Liverpool adopt so successfully in recent years.
He is aware, however, that he does not have the personnel available to him at present to allow him to do that.
"Look at the players that we had in the past at this club in those positions," said the Gunners boss. "You go back to (Santi) Cazorla, to (Tomas) Rosicky, to (Andrey) Arshavin when he played there, to (Aaron) Ramsey when he played there. Even Jack Wilshere used to play in those pockets all the time.
"That is a lot of players who are now not here. We have to renew that cycle, because they are a big part of what any squad needs."
The rebuilding job Arteta inherited in north London was never going to be a short-term project.
Arsenal’s focus last summer was on improving the spine and the additions of Partey in midfield and Gabriel Magalhaes at centre-back have certainly done that. Attention will now shift over the next couple of windows to areas higher up the pitch.
For now, though, Arteta must find a way of getting his team firing again with the tools he has at his disposal.
He believes he has maths on his side and the tide will soon turn. The numbers, however, suggest it might not be as simple as he thinks.