After 10 matches played in the 25-26 Premier League season, Arsenal sit 6-points clear at the top of the league. Out of their 10 matches, Arsenal have won 8, lost 1, drawn 1, and are currently on a 5-match winning streak.

Arsenal have had 11 different goal scorers in the Premier League so far this season, which makes them tied with Brighton for the most of any team. For reference, Manchester City have had 6 goals scorers: five players with one goal and Haaland with 13 goals. It is a true testament to the depth and strength of Arsenal’s attacking ability.

However, maybe more impressive than their attacking threat has been Arsenal’s defensive strength this 25-26 Premier League season, which is the topic of today’s article. Keep reading below to see some of the defensive statistics which are an important contributor to Arsenal’s strong start to the season.

Arsenal’s Remarkable Clean Sheet Record

First up is Arsenal’s clean sheet record. After 10 matches played, they have 7 clean sheets. For reference, Arsenal only had 13 clean sheets in the 38 Premier League games they played last season (24-25).

They’re already over half way to that tally with just over a quarter of the matches played. To note, Liverpool, who as you’ll remember were the Premier League winner’s last year, only had 14 clean sheets over the whole 24-25 season.

In the 25-26 season so far, Arsenal have only conceded 3 goals. One goal in each match against Liverpool (0-1 loss), Manchester City (1-1 draw), and Newcastle (2-1 win).

After 10 matches played, Arsenal have 7 clean sheets. For reference, Arsenal only had 13 clean sheets in the 38 Premier League games they played last season (24-25).

As seen in the graph below, Arsenal is well above the Premier League average for clean sheets to date in the 25-26 season. For reference, Newcastle sits in second with five clean sheets (two less than Arsenal).

However, the majority of the Premier League have between two and four clean sheets. As seen on the far right side of the graph, there are a handful of teams with one or zero clean sheets after 10 matches played.

Fewest Shots on Target and Defensive Cohesion

David Raya has played in net for all of Arsenal’s Premier League fixtures this 25-26 season. And while Raya’s save percentage is the highest in the league at 84.2% (16 saves from 19 shots on target), the clean sheets can also be attributed to the 10 outfield players in front of him.

As noted above, Arsenal has received 19 shots on target against them so far, which is the fewest out of all Premier League teams (less than two shots on target per game so far). In second is Chelsea, who has had 29 shots on target against, a whole 10 more than Arsenal (Burnley have the most shots on target against, at 58).

So, while it is clear that Raya has been making the saves when called upon, it is often that Arsenal outfield players are doing their job so well that Raya is rarely called into action. This is further reinforced with additional statistics presented in the sections below.

Limiting Completed Passes Into the Box

The next impressive defensive statistic that we’ll look at for Arsenal is the number of completed passes opposing teams have played into Arsenal’s penalty area.

Said differently, this is the number of times the opposition have been able to complete a pass into Arsenal’s penalty area so far this season in the Premier League. To note, this doesn’t include set pieces.

Completed passes into an opponent’s penalty box provides a summary of a few different defensive traits for squads:

• For starters, if a team is able to penetrate their opponent’s box with completed passes, it means they have been given enough time on the ball to make the pass. The fewer of these passes into the box, the better the defensive team is doing at blocking (predicting) the pass or pressing their opponents so there isn’t an opportunity to make the forward pass.
• Secondly, it provides insights into how the defenders are reacting inside the penalty box. Are they able to block the pass or step in front of the attacker to intercept the pass? Or maybe they’re able to step-up to put the attacker in an offside position.

As it can be seen, the number of completed passes into the defensive penalty box provides some interesting insights into a number of different components of a strong defensive unit.

Additionally, and as discussed in previous FIVDA articles, the vast majority of Premier League goals are scored within the penalty box.

In fact, out of the 256 goals scored (doesn’t include own goals) as of match week 10 in the 25-26 Premier League season, only 42 have been scored from a distance of greater than 18-yards out. The average distance of those 256 goals scored has been 12.05-yards from goal.

The ability of a team’s defence to prevent the number of completed passes into the box strongly helps to prevent the number of goals scored against them.

With all that being said, Arsenal have only allowed 45 completed passes into their penalty area in the Premier League so far this 25-26 season. That’s 18 less than both Manchester City and Aston Villa who are tied in second for allowing 63 completed passes into their penalty area.

A graph of all squads can be seen below for a visual. To note, Burnley have allowed the highest number of completed passes into their penalty area, at 120. The average amongst all 20 squads is 74.8, which Arsenal are far outperforming.

Expected Goals Against (xGA) Highlights Arsenal’s Defensive Quality

The final metric that we’re going to discuss to outline Arsenal’s defensive strength so far this season is the expected goals against, or xGA, statistic.

We’ve covered expected goals in depth in other FIVDA articles and we’ve linked to one from this season in which we discuss shot accuracy, goal trends and xG insights after the first five matches this season, if you’d like to learn more about xG.

However, as a summary, xG or expected goals measures the probability that a shot will result in a goal. The statistic takes many factors into account when determining the probability, including location of the shooter, events leading up to the shot and the body part used to shoot (foot, head, etc.).

An xG of 1.0 is a for sure goal, while an xG of 0.1 indicates that there would be 1 expected goal if 10 identical shots were taken. To note, the xG of a penalty kick is always 0.79 (the odds are heavily in favour of scoring).

So, xGA is just the expected number of goals that an opponent will score. Or said differently, the expected number of goals that a team will concede.

Arsenal have an xGA of 5.6 goals, meaning that when adding up all those individual xG probabilities from all the shots they have had against them, it is expected that they would have allowed 5.6 goals.

This equals about only 0.6 expected goals against per match.

As noted previously, Arsenal have only allowed 3 goals so far this 25-26 Premier League season. This means they are outperforming their xGA metric.

Arsenal’s 5.6 xGA statistic is the lowest in the Premier League currently. The closest is Newcastle United with an xGA of 8.7, followed by Manchester City with 9.6.

Burnley have the highest xGA at 20.4; a graph of all squad’s xGA can be seen below.

Arsenal’s Defensive Discipline: Blocking Shots and Forcing Long-Range Efforts

We highlight Arsenal’s low xGA, as again, it provides insight into their defensive abilities. It underlines that overall, Arsenal isn’t letting their opponents have many strong goal scoring opportunities.

Below is a pie chart which breakdown of the outcome of all shots Arsenal have received so far this 25-26 Premier League season.

A key statistic is that 39% of all shots against Arsenal have been blocked, which emphasizes Arsenal’s defensive mindset to shut down opponents and prevent them from having strong goal scoring opportunities.

To note, Arsenal’s blocked shots statistic is 10% more than the Premier League average with 29% of all shots being blocked.

Additionally, the average shot distance against Arsenal is 17.4-yards. The Premier League average shot distance is 16.6 yards.

As noted previously, Arsenal is allowing far fewer shots against them than any team in the Premier League, but those shots are also at a further distance than other teams are allowing.

The average distance a goal is scored in the Premier League so far this 25-26 season is from 12.05-yards out. The fact that Arsenal is able to minimize shots against them that occur from close range, further prevents the likelihood that they will concede goals.

Final Thoughts: How Arsenal’s Defence Sets Them Apart

Well, that’s it for this article. In this post, we take a look at three key statistics that are behind Arsenal’s strong defensive record so far this 25-26 Premier League season.

After 10 matches played in the Premier League, Arsenal has the most clean sheets (7), the fewest completed passes into their penalty area by opponents (45), and the least number of xGA or expected goals against (5.6).

As outlined above, these three defensive metrics underline Arsenal’s cohesiveness as one unit when defending. The lack of goals scored against Arsenal so far this season is as a result of the strong defensive work (pressing, tackling, tracking back, etc.) they are doing off the ball.

This defensive work has minimized the quality of shots that opponents are able to take on Arsenal’s net (i.e., shots from longer ranges) and helped contribute to their overall strong start to the 25-26 Premier League season.

What are your thoughts about Arsenal’s defensive record so far this season? Did anything surprise you when reading about the three key statistics we focused on in this article? If you’re an Arsenal fan, have you noticed anything different or better about their defensive strategy this season as opposed to last year in the 24-25 season?

Stay tuned for future posts and please send us a message if there is a specific topic you would like to see covered. Additionally, if you have some ideas on how to improve these articles, please send them our way too.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read these posts!

JC

All data in this article is from fbref.com so, thanks to them!