West Ham will test Ramsdale's passing under pressure

Kevin Chroust looks at key tactical points and players who can be decisive in Matchweek 17.

Aaron Ramsdale

With the top three teams moving eight points clear of the rest, the meetings between the sides competing for the final UEFA Champions League spot are growing in importance.

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West Ham United have shown their credentials by beating both Liverpool and Chelsea in their last six matches. Arsenal go into Wednesday’s London derby boasting strong home form, with three straight wins, six goals scored and none conceded at Emirates Stadium.

That is despite the Gunners' risky approach in possession at the back, which was evident again in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Southampton in north London.

While goalkeeper Ramsdale has done his primary job in keeping clean sheets, avoiding a goal in his last 278 league minutes at Emirates Stadium, his passing under pressure also deserves attention.

For a team like Arsenal who build from the back, Ramsdale's role is key, and that was underlined by his press-breaking involvement in Alexandre Lacazette’s goal against Southampton.

Three of the 16 passes in the sequence came from Ramsdale, including one while he was being closed down near the six-yard box.

Ramsdale attempted 38 open-play passes against Saints, his highest total all season, while his 32 open-play involvements put him level with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Jose Sa at the top of the Matchweek 16 goalkeeper rankings.

He only started six of those sequences, so most of his involvement came in the middle of Arsenal building up from the back, like with Lacazette’s strike.

The issue for Arsenal is what then happens further forward, because there is quite a gap between them and the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool when it comes to the quality of scoring chances coming from keeper-involved sequences.

The average xG (Expected Goals) total per shot on Ederson’s 26 open-play shot-ending sequences is 0.13, meaning on average those shots have a 13 per cent chance of being finished.

For Alisson, it’s 0.17 on 21 such shots. For Ramsdale, it’s 0.07, so the shots coming from the Arsenal sequences he’s involved in are roughly half as threatening as for the other two.

Inviting pressure

It is also worth noting that Arsenal’s sequences are starting closer to their own goal than every club bar Norwich City, Newcastle United and Wolves.

Consequently, Arsenal have had 229 pressed sequences against them, and those have resulted in a league-high 33 shots and a joint-most four goals conceded, while their 13 errors leading to shots are also the joint-most.

This is not necessarily Ramsdale’s fault – he’s made only one error leading to a shot and it didn’t result in a goal – but Arsenal’s style tends to put their goalkeeper under threat.

Indeed, Ramsdale has been pressured with the ball 104 times in 13 matches, and that average of eight per match is a league-high.

For comparison, the 'keepers of the teams closest to Arsenal in the table, Manchester United’s David De Gea and Tottenham Hotspur’s Hugo Lloris, have been pressured with the ball a combined 63 times in 28 matches.

Hammers' counter-attacking threat

West Ham generate comparatively few high turnovers – their 100 are more than only Spurs – but when they do win the ball high up they are dangerous.

In such scenarios they have mustered 20 shots, scoring three goals, the joint third-most in the league. 

Arsenal have proved in their recent home outings that their patient build-up brings reward as well as risk, but Ramsdale and his rearguard will need to be particularly accurate on Wednesday.

Kevin Chroust is Co-Editor in Chief at TheAnalyst.com