Can Arsenal break Chelsea’s Premier League record? | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has admitted it would be nice to break Chelsea’s Premier League record for goals conceded, but it will require a lot of consistency throughout the season.

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Eight games into the new Premier League season, Arsenal have conceded just three goals so far, a Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick, an Erling Haaland counter-attack, and a Nick Woltemade header after a corner.

To have let in just one goal from open play by this stage is an impressive start to the new campaign, and the stats currently have the team on course for a record-breaking year.

If the Gunners could maintain their record of three goals conceded every eight games for the entire season, that would be 14.3 goals.

If Mikel Arteta’s side can round that down to 14, it would be one better than Chelsea’s record-breaking 15 goals conceded in 2004/05. Even rounding up would at least allow the team to equal the record.

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Speaking in his press conference on Friday, Arteta answered a question on whether there’s motivation to break Chelsea’s record.

“We want these kinds of records; we have been getting a lot of them,” Arteta said. “At the end, we want it to bring the silverware and the trophies.

“But obviously, the more we can produce, I think the closer we are going to be to achieving what we want to do. That defensive record is very good, but we need to be consistent; it’s only just the start of the season.

“The aim is to continue improving things, which we can still do a lot of, to do even better.”

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Looking at all competitions could provide further encouragement, with Arsenal yet to concede in four games in the Champions League and the League Cup.

Including those matches would bring the average down, but the Gunners are obviously facing different teams in those cases.

It’s also worth mentioning that Arsenal’s first eight games have included some very difficult fixtures, including trips away to Manchester United, Newcastle United, and Liverpool, and the visit from Manchester City. In the other four “easier” games, the team haven’t conceded once.

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On the other hand, Arsenal have been slightly overperforming against their expected goals against, which stands at 4.7 (per FBref). That’s not hugely different from the three actual goals the Gunners have let in, but it does suggest there could be a regression to the mean as we go on.

More importantly, as Arteta mentions, it’s still so early in the season. So much can happen in terms of injuries, or opponents identifying weaknesses to exploit, or simple periods of bad form.

Arsenal might be on course to beat Chelsea’s record right now, but they’re nowhere near actually doing so.