Arsenal have anti-Everton problem as 17th-best Declan Rice highlights key issue for Mikel Arteta

Arsenal have an anti-Everton problem that could hamper their hopes of winning the Premier League title, with Declan Rice ranked as the 17th-best…

The Gunners are coming off what feels like a massive win over Newcastle United, with Mikel Arteta’s newfound expansive approach sending a clear message to title rivals Liverpool.

Suddenly, it feels as if we have a Premier League title race on our hands, with Arsenal, who arguably have a stronger squad, sitting only two points adrift of holders Liverpool after six games.

In the summer, Arteta was given all of the tools required to take Arsenal to the next level by winning the Premier League and/or Champions League, though it was easy before the Newcastle game to pick faults in his tentative approach as the north London outfit often looked one-dimensional.

It remains to be seen whether the comeback victory against Newcastle will spark a long-term change to Arteta’s philosophy, though the manager certainly has an issue with chance creation.

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This season, England international Rice is the only Arsenal player in the list of biggest chance creators in the Premier League, sitting 17th with a tally of nine from six games.

Liverpool, meanwhile, has two entries with Hugo Ekitike (ninth) and Florian Wirtz (12th), whereas Manchester United, somewhat surprisingly, have two players (Bruno Fernandes and Bryan Mbeumo) in the top ten.

As mentioned, Arsenal arguably have a better squad than Liverpool overall, though their struggles to create chances and break teams down risk being their undoing, while the Reds are always likely to score at least two goals per game due to the amount of opportunities given to their quality attackers.

It is also worth noting that the Gunners are only fifth in our Premier League table based on big chances created, trailing Liverpool and Manchester City in the standings.

This issue for Arsenal differs from that of Everton, who dominate the list with first-placed Jack Grealish (17) and fourth-placed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (13).

Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall have quickly formed a great partnership since joining Everton in the summer, with the two recent additions combining to make the Toffees a lot more pleasing on the eye.

Still, there is only so much heavy lifting that Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall (and Iliman Ndiaye, too) can do for David Moyes’ side, who are currently being let down by their No.9.

Beto, who Moyes has regularly criticised, only has one Premier League goal in six games from his xG of 2.18, while inexperienced summer signing Thierno Barry is goalless with an xG of 0.46.

So the lack of a final product is undermining Everton’s progress, which was evident as they laboured to a disappointing 1-1 draw against West Ham on Monday night and were booed off by some supporters.

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