Arsenal have a problem with their balance. Not enough to cost them the Premier League title this time, of course, but enough to have held them back in the past. In another life, they might even be European champions.
Mikel Arteta has forged the Gunners into a ruthless machine but one, for all its efficiency, that is rather predictable.
You know they will probably kill you at set-pieces. But you also know that if they need to find a way to play through you, more often than not, it’s going to come down the right and it’s going to be through Bukayo Saka.
More than 40 per cent of all the touches Arsenal had in the attacking third of Premier League games last season came down the right.
Arsenal have a strong preference to attack down the right through Bukayo Saka
Their over-reliance on that flank is even more stark when you look at the heat map for where Arsenal created their chances on their way to winning the title.
A sea of red down Saka’s side, barely any on the other.
This heat map shows where Arsenal created their chances last season – it’s a sea of red down Saka’s side
Captain and creator-in-chief Martin Odegaard also prefers to drift into the right channel where he combines with Saka and Jurrien Timber (or Ben White) in those neat little triangles high up the pitch.
It’s made Arsenal ever more lop-sided. They need much more from the left and they need players there who Arteta, and his players, can trust to provide it.
Morgan Rogers could well be the ideal man. The Aston Villa talisman is one of Arteta’s top targets for the summer and with good reason.
Arsenal are lop-sided and Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa and England could be the solution
This shows the frequency of open-play touches by Arsenal players, with darker patches indicating a higher number. So much of their play is funnelled down the right
Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, Arteta’s two main options down the left, are both talented footballers but neither are at the same level as Saka. Eberechi Eze has also spent a bit of time out on that flank.
Martinelli mustered just a single league goal in 30 appearances last season, albeit from just 11 starts, as he was often overlooked in favour of a 31-year-old Trossard who has traditionally done most of his best work from the bench.
Rogers, meanwhile, racked up 10 goals and another six assists to fire Aston Villa into the Champions League and another three goals and five assists to in Villa’s triumphant Europa League campaign. His six assists from open play in the league was bettered only by City duo Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland as well as Bruno Fernandes.
What sets him apart, and why Arteta wants him so badly, is how unstoppable he is when driving at defenders with the ball at his feet. He is powerful in possession, carries the ball with pace and strength, and shields it superbly under pressure.
It’s an attribute Arsenal saw up close in the second game of the 2024-25 season against Villa where Rogers frequently breezed past Rice and Thomas Partey. ‘The way he was brushing people away, it was like watching Jonah Lomu,’ said Sky pundit Jamie Redknapp.
He used it to great effect last season, too. He carried the ball more than five metres before having a shot 30 times, the joint-third most in the division behind Cody Gakpo and Matheus Cunha and alongside Saka. Three of them ended in a goal, again the same as Saka, and fewer than only City duo Haaland and Antoine Semenyo.
Arsenal need more of those players who can drive at defenders, breeze past them, or force them into mistakes, if they are to break down deep defences that often caused the Gunners problems last term. Only Saka produced more than 15 shot-ending carries for Arsenal in 2025-26.
Rogers is versatile and very rarely injured – two qualities Mikel Arteta values highly
It’s more than just Rogers’ ability on the ball. He can play multiple positions, something Arteta likes – look at Eze, Kai Havertz, Mikel Merino, Myles Lewis-Skelly. ‘I can be a No 10, I can be a winger, I can be a striker, I think I can be anything,’ said Rogers recently.
His desire to drift inside should also help Arsenal’s creativity in that left-sided central area in which they so often struggle.
He’s hardly ever injured, too. Rogers played 3,285 league minutes last season, more than any other forward bar Jarrod Bowen, and more than any Arsenal player including even Declan Rice.
‘Your best ability is your availability,’ reads a message on the wall in the treatment room at Arsenal’s training ground. Well, he ticks that box.
Arteta wants his front line to be aggressive in trying to win the ball back and Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard all sit in the top five for how frequently they regain possession in the final third over the course of 90 minutes (among players who racked up at least 1,000 minutes). That only Saka won the ball in the final third more often than Rogers all campaign is another tick.
Rogers was also one of the leading players last season for out-performing his expected goals (xG). His 10 goals came from an xG of less than seven. None of Saka, Martinelli or Trossard could compare.
Banging in three of them from outside the box always helps. Only four players scored more goals from distance last season. Again, when you’re struggling to break down low blocks, having someone who can consistently stick it into the top corner from 20 yards will help.
| PL 25-26 (excluding pens) | Goals | xG | Difference | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan Rogers | 10 | 6.78 | +3.22 | ||
| Leandro Trossard | 6 | 5.47 | +0.53 | ||
| Bukayo Saka | 6 | 6.76 | -0.76 | ||
| Gabriel Martinelli | 1 | 3.99 | -2.99 |
There’s always a question when a player outperforms their xG over whether they can sustain it: are they truly an elite finisher or will they, eventually, revert back to the mean?
Arteta and Arsenal hope that Villa’s ongoing financial tete-a-tete with UEFA might force them to flog Rogers for less than what he’s worth to keep the bean counters happy. However, billionaire owner Nassef Sawiris is adamant it would have to be for much more than £100million.
The Egyptian has been watching how much Manchester City are forking out for Nottingham Forest midfielder and Rogers’ England team-mate Elliot Anderson, which is £116m.
If Arsenal are to wrangle the deal, it will be interesting to see how Rogers fits into Arteta’s system. The Gunners boss favoured a 4-2-3-1 instead of his tried-and-trusted 4-3-3 formation last season. While Rogers has frequently played in the No 10 role for Villa, it’s a spot Odegaard or Eze will likely have on lockdown.
Arteta is desperate for a left winger so that is where you expect Rogers would start. The potential issue there, however, is that Rogers is used to drifting inside so he can link up with Villa’s flying full backs, usually Lucas Digne.
It is Villa’s full backs that give Unai Emery’s side their width. Arsenal’s, on the other hand, are far less cavalier and instead often drift into central roles themselves.
Rogers offers Arteta an xG upgrade on his Belgian winger Leandro Trossard (left)
The Villa star has made a habit of scoring spectacular long-range goals
Another risk for Arteta in signing Rogers is just that: Rogers is a risk-taker himself. Arteta, as we have long seen, is not. He likes structure and control. Rogers doesn’t.
‘I know people might moan and be frustrated when I lose the ball — just keeping it is not my game,’ Rogers told The Athletic in May. ‘It never has been. It never will be. I don’t play football to be boring, to be safe.’
Rogers loves to take players on but doesn’t always beat them. His dribble success rate of 34 per cent is well below that of Martinelli (54 per cent), Saka (46 per cent) and Trossard (43 per cent).
So, Arteta must prepare to be frustrated – and he certainly went on a journey last season with learning to trust Eze’s tendency to be loose in possession, with the upside of greater threat going forward. And if Rogers is allowed to express himself, he could also be the man to tip the balance further in Arsenal’s favour.
