One of the biggest problems Arsenal have been facing this season isn’t just the Premier League’s officials or injuries but it’s a lack of creativity.
They may have scored 39 goals in the top-flight this term, the division’s third-best tally but they are far behind some of their rivals when it comes to producing chances to score from.
Indeed, according to FBRef, they rank fifth for key passes this season with 223, tenth for through balls with 37 and tenth again for shot-creating actions on 493, suggesting they lack someone capable of breaking open a defence and playing a killer pass.
Martin Odegaard’s 12-game absence across all competitions earlier in the season won’t have helped that data and Bukayo Saka’s now lengthy time on the sidelines with a hamstring injury means they won’t be climbing the rankings for those particular numbers anytime soon.
Ethan Nwaneri’s emergence as a starter in recent weeks certainly helped but he is now set to miss a few weeks because of a muscular injury, meaning the Gunners have to go out and bolster the squad while the winter transfer window is open for business.
Arsenal targeting Premier League midfielder this January
Who better to help Arsenal’s chance creation than the man with the third-highest number of assists in the Premier League this season?
Well, they could just sign that exact star with reports from Spain suggesting that Brentford midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard has ‘caught the attention’ of the north London side this winter.
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It’s reported that the Gunners are ‘willing to make a strong bid’ for the Denmark international’s services and it could take a fee of around £33m to prise him away from the Bees.
The report ends by claiming that ‘talks could intensify in the coming days’ ahead of concluding a deal before the January window ends.
So, what could he offer to Arsenal? Creativity in abundance, that’s for sure.
How Mikkel Damsgaard compares to Martin Odegaard
Mikel Arteta desperately needs players who can pick the lock of a defence and in Damsgaard, they’d have the perfect man.
Only Mo Salah (13) and Saka (10) have assisted more goals than the Dane’s seven in Premier League action this summer, suggesting that he could be the perfect player for the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz to link up with.
Of course, Arsenal need wingers this January, so how would another midfielder fit into Arteta’s system?
Well, the 24-year-old has the versatility to perform a number of roles should he move to the capital in 2025. This term, Damsgaard has been operating more as an attacking midfielder but he has played on the flanks.
Damsgaard (L) and Odegaard (R) heat maps via Sofascore.
Unlike Odegaard, however, who does most of his work on the right, the Brentford ace tends to play in the pockets on the left-hand side.
That area of the pitch has been a problem for a while now with Arsenal’s right-hand bias well known across the country. Indeed, no Premier League side attacks down the right more than the Londoners with 44% of their attacks being registered in that area of the field. Contrastingly, no side has registered fewer attacks down the left than the Gunners at 32%.
Arsenal – 44%
Arsenal – 32%
Everton – 41%
Ipswich – 34%
Brentford – 39%
Everton – 35%
West Ham – 38%
Brentford – 35%
Southampton – 38%
Chelsea – 35%
Well, Damsgaard could help solve that problem by offering the type of creativity and flow from the left that Arsenal had when Granit Xhaka was still at the club, playing as the left-sided 8 in Arteta’s system.
This is the role the Bees star could undertake and he’d certainly be well suited to doing that job. Here’s how he compares to Odegaard across a number of metrics.
Progressive passes
7.19
10.40
Shot-creating actions
3.75
4.87
Goal-creating actions
0.88
0.71
Key passes
1.88
2.39
Assists
0.38
0.18
Expected assists (xA)
0.21
0.23
Passes into final 3rd
4.69
4.87
Crosses into penalty area
0.31
0.27
While Odegaard plays a great deal more progressive passes here, you can see where similarities lie between the two Nordic midfielders.
They make a similar number of passes into the final third and despite Damsgaard being streets ahead for assists per 90 minutes, the Arsenal skipper is actually slightly ahead for expected assists, suggesting that Brentford have been more clinical when being supplied with opportunities by their Danish magician.
So, although the Gunners target has had a few injury-hit campaigns, he has “been a revelation this season” in the words of Express reporter Ryan Taylor, someone who’s becoming “an explosive, high-pressing, ball-winning machine.”
He might not be the first pick for supporters but the evidence is there that he’d not only improve Arsenal’s chance creation but he’d also significantly improve their left side dynamics. That can only be a good thing.
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