Games Played
The first two games of the 2012-2013 Premier league season were home against Sunderland (tie, 0-0) and away to Stoke (tie, 0-0). Both are fixtures that were difficult for the Arsenal team last season, and, while a tie at home against Sunderland would be considered unacceptable by Arsenal fans, the tie against Stoke at Stoke, taken by itself, could be acceptable given the hardship Arsenal has had at the Britannica stadium in recent years. The high level summary of the two games is that Arsenal performed much better defensively against these two teams than they did last year (and the past three seasons for that matter), but, at the same time, they did not create as many scoring chances as a usual Arsenal team. The former point (defensive improvement) is agreed on by all; it is the latter point (lack of scoring chances) that is the source of all the subsequent discussion and concern. Robin Van Persie scored 30 goals in the Premiere league last year, a whopping 53% of the total Arsenal goals for the season. It should come as no surprise then that all eyes are currently focused on the goal production of the current Arsenal squad. That they have not scored in the first two games would seem to logically imply that they are missing the services of Van Persie. This fact is hard to disprove, however, you have to take a close look at the play of the team to really try and understand how concerning the lack of goals in these two first games should be.