Arsenal v Man City: Who is sharper in front of goal?

6 October 2023

Arsenal scored 88 Premier League goals last season, only behind City's 94. But their goals were spread out, with midfielder Martin Odegaard and winger Gabriel Martinelli top scoring with 15 league goals each.

Bukayo Saka (14) and Gabriel Jesus (11) also hit double figures.

City had a more reliable goal source in Erling Haaland, who hit a Premier League record 36. But Phil Foden, with 11, and Julian Alvarez, on nine, were far behind.

This season Arsenal have 15 Premier League goals to City's 17 - but Brighton, Aston Villa and Newcastle have scored more than either team.

"Would Arsenal be better with an Alvarez, a Haaland? Of course," said former Premier League Striker Chris Sutton.

"Did they make progress last season? Absolutely. Did they make good signings this summer? Of course. But are signings like Rice, Havertz, Timber and Raya going to get them to topple Man City? I don't think so.

"I do think goalscoring is a problem for Arsenal. I like [Eddie] Nketiah, but is he a world-class striker? I don't think so. Jesus has come in for a fair bit of criticism because he is not a natural finisher.

"I do think he has made Arsenal stronger, but he is not clinical. If they want to be Premier League champions they probably need to act and get one in. But there aren't many out there. That is the issue."

Simon Gleave, head of analysis at Nielsen Gracenote, said: "Although six teams have scored more goals than Arsenal so far this Premier League season, Gracenote's expected goals model says that the Gunners have the second-best attack in terms of the quality of chances created.

"Looking at these numbers compared to the same fixtures last season, Arsenal's attack has improved significantly despite the number of goal attempts being slightly lower.

"This is because the chance of the average goal attempt being scored in these seven fixtures has increased from 9% last term to 13.5% now.

"Despite scoring 17 Premier League goals this season, and having more shots and shots on target than in last season's opening seven matches, Manchester City's underlying numbers suggest that their attack is not as potent as it has been during most of Pep Guardiola's tenure.

"City have created just 10.9 expected goals, 30% less than last season's 15.65 from the first seven matches."

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