Fatigue isn’t to blame for Arsenal’s poor form but Mikel Arteta’s tactics may be as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette fail to fire

You could see it coming a mile off. Arsenal had dominated possession against Leicester City but old foe Jamie Vardy arrived off the bench and condemned them to defeat.

It was the Gunners' third of the six-game old Premier League season and fans are beginning to worry about whether manager Mikel Arteta really has them back on the path to glory.

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An FA Cup triumph over Chelsea in July was pretty special given their struggles in recent seasons but now tough questions need to be asked after another defeat.

Arsenal looked a little toothless against the Foxes at the Emirates and only had four shots on target compared to their opponents' three, despite having plenty more of the more ball.

There seemed to be a disturbing lack of creativity on the pitch for the hosts.

Manager Arteta, though, reckons tiredness could be an issue having played nine games since the start of the season.

"I think fatigue had a say there as well," he said after the 1-0 loss.

"We didn’t look as sharp on the ball. We didn’t have much purpose on the ball. David [Luiz] gave us something different when we wanted to do something with the low blocks.

“Credit to them, they are really organised and it’s difficult to create chances.

"We created one with Hector Bellerin and we didn’t convert. It’s an aspect we have to improve on.

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"To be fair I was really pleased with the first half. The way we pressed and the aggression we showed.

"We were effective with that and restricted them to nothing. We scored the goal on the set piece which I don’t know how it got disallowed. We needed to be patient and not to make any errors."

Indeed, Arsenal have made four mistakes leading to shots this campaign, with only Liverpool and Chelsea making more.

Arteta has clearly shored up his team's defence, partially with the use of a back-three, but the consequence is a severely limited attack.

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Balance is what every team needs, a gung-ho style might be fun for the neutral but it's unlikely to win you trophies.

The big issue this season is that Arsenal's goal output has now, bar their opening day win over Fulham, been reduced far too much.

Top forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, handed a new contract reportedly worth £375,000 a week, has only managed one goal and one assist this season, while Alexandre Lacazette has three strikes in the 2020/21 Premier League campaign.

And it's easy to see why when you look at the over-arching statistics.

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Arsenal have averaged 8.8 shots per game in the English top-flight this season, only Newcastle (8.2), West Brom (8.2), and Crystal Palace (7.7) have averaged less.

Their eight goals is the joint-12th most - half the 16 goals of fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur - and only five teams have scored less.

These are the early stages of the season and it should be remembered the Gunners have played Liverpool and Manchester City.

However, they only managed six shots against Sheffield United and West Ham, meaning the bulk of the attempts came against City (11), Fulham (13), and Leicester (12).
So, Arteta's argument his players' fatigue was behind their lack of creation was perhaps a little disingenuous, it's been a problem in several games this season.

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The reality is, with the Gunners playing mostly with a 3-4-3, the ball isn't quite getting the front men as much as it did previously.

Against Leicester the four players who played in central defensive roles, had the ball for combined had almost a third of the game (27.3 per cent of possession).

And while, Arsenal are making the seventh most passes into the final third they are only making the ninth most passes into the penalty area and have only made 38 key passes, with just Crystal Palace, Leicester City, and West Brom making less.

It's clear they're getting the ball into the right areas, just about, but they just aren't creating clear chances for their forwards.

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Arteta has traded a firing frontline for a more stoic defence, on the whole results have been okay but if the Gunners really want to be challenging then concessions have to be made to get the most out of Aubameyang and co.

Players like Dani Ceballos or Willian need to be in central areas higher up the pitch but the current formation is prohibitive and in some matches will need to be tweaked.

But is that a risk the Spaniard is willing to take?