Stats verify Jamie Carragher’s claim that Arsenal have gone backwards under Unai Emery

The former Sevilla manager is growing under increasing pressure at the Emirates with stats showing that he is doing worse at Arsenal than former manager Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal fell to a shock 1-0 defeat away at Sheffield United on Monday as pressure grew on manager Unai Emery after a summer in which the club spent heavily to address its weaknesses.

Unai Emery’s men could have moved to third place in the Premier League table with a win against Blades but a first-half strike by Lys Mousset handed them their 3^rd defeat in nine games.

The poor performance by the Gunners allowed former Liverpool defender and current Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher to claim that the North Londoners have gone first-half under their new manager.

‘I don’t see anything different from when Arsene Wenger was there at the end. I don’t see it,’ said Carragher. ‘In fact, at times it actually looks worse. I think Sheffield United played better football in the first half than Arsenal and I don’t think you would have seen that under Wenger.’

Despite having the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka on the pitch, the Gunners failed to muster a single shot on target in the last 15 minutes of Monday’s game.

During the first season of Unai Emery at the club, the Gunners managed 12.43 shots per game and conceded 13.68 in return. So far this season, they are faring worse in that aspect.

A report by Whoscored reveals that Arsenal are attempting fewer shots (13) than they are conceding per game (16) this season. Little wonder, then, that’s the reason why Arsenal scored fewer goals last term (1.83) than they did in their last 38-games under Wenger (1.95) per game.

Once compared with Wenger’s last season as Arsenal manager, the picture gets bleaker for Unai Emery who continues to maintain that the club is going forward under his tutelage

The Gunners are not only attempting fewer shots (13 shots in 19/20 vs 15 shots in 17/18) but they are also conceding more attempts on their goal (16 attempts in 19/20 vs 11 attempts in 17/18) per game.