Arsenal find Ivan Toney alternative as Mikel Arteta gets attacking wish

Cast your mind back to just over a month ago and it was clear what Arsenal needed. They had won just one game in seven, scoring only five goals in the process and only the signing of a new striker like Ivan Toney could help their fading title hopes.

Six short weeks later, the Gunners have hit a remarkable hot streak with 16 goals in four matches. If they had scored just three more then they would have managed half as many in these four games as they had in the 20 matches prior.

The turnaround has been extraordinary, and yet Toney remains a Brentford player. So what has changed?

From a shots perspective, not an awful lot. In the four games prior to the winter break Arsenal managed 74 shots on goal. Since their midseason training camp in Dubai, they've had just four more, but scored eight times more often.

The quality of the 80 shots in recent matches has of course been important. Arsenal have managed 11.76 expected goals (xG) in their most recent four games as opposed to 6.91 in the four prior (as per understat).

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Set pieces have been key. A quarter of Arsenal's recent goals have come from set pieces which have yielded an xG of 1.76. If you think that those 1.76 xG come from four shots out of a total of 80, that shows you how dangerous they have been. Crucially, these goals have also allowed Arsenal to get their nose in front in games. Arteta has spoken about wanting to go 100mph in games only to be prevented by game state. By getting an edge in matches, the Gunners have been able to force the opposition into giving them spaces that have exploited