In final season’s Premier League, Arsenal had the sixth highest variety of passes tried, behind Manchester Metropolis, Chelsea, Liverpool, Brighton and Fulham. This isn’t fairly unprecedented for a Premier League Champion. Conte’s Chelsea in 2016-17 have been additionally sixth for variety of passes performed. Ranieri’s Leicester have been 18th for passes performed in 2015-16- an outlier in each sense.
However aside from these two examples, the Premier League champion has topped the passes performed metric 10 occasions in 34 seasons (Guardiola’s Manchester Metropolis are chargeable for six of these), been within the high two 17 occasions and the highest three 26 occasions. (Curiously, none of Arsenal’s 4 Premier League title profitable seasons have seen them play the very best variety of passes).
Arsenal have been fifth within the Premier League for brief passes accomplished final season, precisely the place Conte’s 2016-17 staff sat. I gained’t beat you over the pinnacle with figures any further- not least as a result of that is supposed to be illustrative moderately than an exhaustive interrogation of the info. (There are Arsenal writers way more outfitted for that process than I!)
Briefly, whereas Arsenal are usually not a complete outlier as a Premier League champion in terms of ball circulation; however they don’t seem to be far off. What Ranieri’s Leicester and Conte’s Chelsea share in frequent is that not solely did they not retain the Premier League title, they didn’t come near doing so.
Chelsea completed fifth and Conte left the next summer season. Leicester, maybe extra understandably, completed twelfth and Claudio Ranieri was sacked 9 months after profitable the league title. Many people are preoccupied with the thought of Arteta and Arsenal addressing this subject over the summer season. Which makes hyperlinks with Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers appear somewhat curious to some.
Rogers isn’t any metronome. In keeping with whoscored.com his move success price within the league final season was 74%. Arsenal’s common move success price was 84.2%. Rogers is a excessive threat, excessive reward participant who ranks extremely on key passes and pictures. However he doesn’t aid you to manage a recreation by way of possession like Martin Odegaard, for instance. (84.7% move success price final season).
In any dialogue round Arsenal’s technical degree and passing proficiency, Martin Odegaard is a central character. He’s very a lot Arsenal’s technical reference and his qualities are particularly necessary in a midfield constructed mainly across the extra bombastic qualities of Declan Rice. Odegaard has endured two punctuated seasons as a consequence of damage.
In 2024-25 he was haunted by an ankle damage. Whereas he was out injured, his preliminary substitute in the precise midfield function was Kai Havertz, who’s a tidy technician with a powerful contact and comfortable ft in small areas. Odegaard had returned by the point Havertz himself suffered a season-ending damage in February, albeit as a pale facsimile of his former self.
In 2025-26, Odegaard suffered a succession of small and medium-sized accidents which gave his season a fractured really feel. The signing of Eberechi Eze meant that Arsenal had star energy to supply in his place with out the necessity to shift one other pivotal participant like Havertz out of place to amend for Odegaard’s absence. Eze is an efficient participant; however he couldn’t be extra against Odegaard.
Because the season wore on, the impression lingers that Odegaard has barely shifted from an absolute stonewall ‘choose for each minute of each recreation’ participant that he was till his ankle damage within the autumn of 2024-25, into extra of a ‘particular groups’ function participant. In the summertime of 2025, Thomas Partey departed the membership.
Partey was a considerably motionless presence on the base of the midfield however one with an apparent penchant for punching the ball by way of the strains. The identical was true of his understudy Jorginho. Each moved on and Arsenal signed Martin Zubimendi from Actual Sociedad. It’s attention-grabbing re-reading Phil Costa’s profile piece on Zubimendi upon his signing https://arseblog.com/2025/07/new-signing-profile-martin-zubimendi/.
‘Zubimendi isn’t actually a deep-lying playmaker who makes 110 passes-per-game at 95% completion price,’ Phil wrote. ‘The midfielder won’t all the time play precisely, however he all the time seems to be to play shortly (and confidently on each ft) which might present a welcome antidote for the horseshoe of demise.’
Arsenal didn’t go like-for-like of their quest to switch Partey and Jorginho. Many characterised Zubimendi as extra of a deep mendacity playmaker based mostly primarily on a (comparatively innocent) nationwide stereotype. Many people naturally assumed {that a} Spanish pivote would supply technical assurance as a matter of genetics.
Whereas Merino’s technical degree is underrated, he’s primarily appraised by his bodily qualities- Arsenal have signed Spanish midfielders within the final two summers, neither of whom considerably increase the staff’s technical ceiling. Zubimendi began final season excellently however clearly drained because the season progressed.
I feel Myles Lewis Skelly, together with his 91% move completion price and his potential to burst by way of strains of strain, might be a big presence in Arsenal’s midfield subsequent season. However in the end Odegaard and Zubimendi, two gamers charged with nursing Arsenal’s ball circulation, turned function gamers final season.
Which begs the query as to what occurs subsequent season. Will ball retention be a grasp or a servant? I’m struck by the match away at Everton final December. Arsenal made 654 passes on this recreation, manner above their season common of 404. They recognised Everton’s strengths, particularly at house, and needed to restrict the prospect of a transitional recreation as a lot as potential.
Martin Zubimendi performed the total 90 minutes of that recreation. Odegaard was changed by Merino on 88 minutes. Eze and Madueke have been unused subs. The sport plan was clearly to be as correct in possession as potential. Towards Sporting in Lisbon, Arsenal performed a staff with related qualities to Moyes’ Everton on their house floor.
In that recreation, they performed 510 passes at 91% accuracy. As soon as once more, Zubimendi performed the total 90 on the base of midfield whereas Odegaard got here off injured on 70 minutes and was changed by Havertz. All of which begs the query to me as as to whether having a excessive technical degree and elite ball retention might be a relentless for Arsenal subsequent season, or a dropdown choice to deploy when required in opposition to particularly transitional opponents?
What if Arsenal’s technical degree is just not actually seen as an issue that must be solved? What if Arteta needs to lean into being extra of what we’re and getting higher at it? The final three midfield signings haven’t primarily been technicians and that development will proceed if Arsenal are profitable of their pursuit of Rogers. It is going to be fascinating to see how this unfolds and what Arteta has in thoughts for subsequent season.
