There was a slight narrative last season that Arsenal’s defence was a problem, and there were plenty of games where they conceded some really stupid goals and it did cost them points.
Interestingly if you look at the goals against column then they had the third-best defence in the Premier League last season, so the problem was that they simply weren’t scoring enough goals and that meant any defensive errors were highlighted because most of their games were so tight.
55 league goals left them a long way behind many of their rivals in that stat, while this shows that they didn’t have one player they could rely on to score every week:
Alex Lacazette (13) was Arsenal's lowest top league scorer since Robin van Persie bagged only 11 in 2008-09.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) June 24, 2021
That’s not really an indictment on Lacazette as he wasn’t always a started and he didn’t always play as a number 9, but it does suggest that they need to find a prolific striker this summer to alleviate some of the pressure on the rest of the team.
Aubamyeang was expected to carry the team at times last season but he had so many issues with illness, discipline and personal problems away from the pitch, while he’s also in the twilight of his career so it would be a risk to simply rely on him.
It might not be as much of an issue if they had more of a team effort with guys like Eddie Nketiah and Folarin Balogun getting chances to play and getting close to double figures, but it’s a key area of the pitch that needs to be sorted out going into next season.