Have Arsenal gone backwards since Emery replaced Wenger?

Arsenal missed the chance to go third in the Premier League on Monday night after slipping to a 1-0 defeat away to newly promoted Sheffield United. The Gunners were unable to score in a Premier League game for the first time this season and have won just one of their five away matches in the competition. Arsenal now languish outside the top four and their latest set-back has justifiably prompted questions whether the club are progressing under Unai Emery.

Desperately chasing a goal, Arsenal finished the match with Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka on the pitch but failed to muster a single shot on taget in the final 15 minutes. In fact, Sheffield United actually registered more attempts (3) than Arsenal (2) in that time. Emery's side closed the show with 60% possession but had absoutely nothing to show for it. It's actually been a common theme to Arsenal's season so far.

Remarkably, Arsenal are conceding more shots per game (16) than they are attempting themselves (13) this season. Emery will hope that figure will improve once the likes of Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney get back to full fitness but it is still the case they concede more shots per game (13.68) than they attempt themselves (12.43) when you factor in his first season at the club.

Compared to Arsene Wenger's last season at the club, Arsenal attempted 15.63 shots per league match and conceded 11.3 attempts on goal per game. The general consensus was Arsenal had gone stale during Wenger's final years at the club but now it looks they managed to go backwards under Emery. Arsenal's WhoScored rating in Wenger's final season in charge was 6.92 in the Premier League and under Emery it has dropped to 6.78.
 

Clubs are often criticised for being too quick to sack managers, without giving them suffificent time to make the necessary changes to take the club forward. Emery has undoubtedly been impedded by poor decision making by the club prior to his arrival, namely the enormous contracts handed out to Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at the start of 2018.

Mkhitaryan has been farmed out on loan to Italian side Roma, while Arsenal have failed to find a club willing to pay anything close to Ozil's eye-watering wages. The former Germany international has only made one Premier League appearance this season. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was also rewarded with a lucrative deal but the former Borussia Dortmund striker has proved his worth for the Gunners. His currency is goals and he has scored 39 times in 58 league appearances since joining Arsenal in January 2018.

Despite being crippled financially, Arsenal were able to make a number of eye-catching signing for Emery in the summer. The north London outfit agreed a club-record deal worth up to £72m for Nicolas Pepe following his impressive campaign for French side Lille but the 24-year-old has really struggled this season. Pepe scored 22 league goals for Lille last season, though nine of those were penalties. He still hasn't scored from open play for Arsenal this season and missed a glaring opportunity against Sheffield United on Monday when the scores were 0-0.

However, for all of Arsenal's issues behind the scenes, you'd be hard pressed to confidently describe their way of playing under Emery. That is particularly concerning now the Spaniard is in his second season in charge of the club. Emery would be forgiven, to some degree, if you could clearly see the direction the club were heading on the pitch and certain things were not going to plan, but that simply hasn't been the case.

The fact Dani Ceballos has only started five Premier League matches has particularly disgruntled supporters. Emery has also made a susbtitution at half-time in two Premier League matches this season, both of which tactical and not enforced. Over the course of the campaign you could overlook that but the season is only nine games old. It suggests poor planning and wrong team selection.

Odds on Emery to be sacked has been slashed in the wake of Arsenal's defeat on Monday night but it would be wrong to dismiss the 47-year-old now. It was always going to be an uphill battle for Arsenal to finish in the top four this season but thorough analysis will be required by the club at the end of the season. That is when a decision should be made on his future.