Arsenal achieve rare feat under Mikel Arteta against Napoli in the Champions League

Arsenal beat Napoli 1-0 on Wednesday night, but it could have been a lot more comfortable.

Mikel Arteta’s side had 26 shots to Napoli’s five — their most in a Champions League game since records began.

Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino and Piero Hincapie all spurned gilt-edged chances before Martin Odegaard finally broke the deadlock with fifteen minutes remaining.

Defensively, the champions of England were solid again, with Ezri Konsa continuing his seamless transition as an Arsenal player.

Three points and a clean sheet. A perfect start to the European campaign.

But the post-match conversation has been dominated by the finishing, or lack of it. The narrative around Arsenal’s attack being thin, being reliant on Saka, Odegaard and Kai Havertz staying fit, being short of the X-factor they wanted this summer.

One number from Wednesday night goes completely against the ‘boring’ and ‘defensive’ narratives, though.

4.05 xG. That is, at least per data by Fotmob, Arsenal’s highest in a Champions League game under Arteta.

For a team supposedly short of attacking quality, Arsenal created chances at will against a Napoli side managed by Massimiliano Allegri, a typically organised team defensively.

Arsenal aren’t showing signs of a team struggling to create chances from open play anymore. That’s 10 goals for the season now, and not one from a set-piece. You have to assume Arsenal are now totally reliant on scoring from open play.

But no, seriously, on another night this ends four or five-nil. And in a tough European away tie at a hostile ground, that is seriously impressive. They just need to be ruthless in converting them.

One slight concern was how uninvolved Viktor Gyokeres was. Of all Arsenal’s outfield players to have started the game, only Konsa and Gyokeres failed to get a shot off. That’s quite damning for the Swede.