Worrying Mikel Arteta stat emerges after Arsenal suffer dramatic Porto defeat

A worrying Mikel Arteta statistic has emerged after Arsenal suffered a Champions League defeat to Porto.

On Wednesday Porto stunned Arsenal by claiming a 1-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, courtesy of a stoppage-time winner from Galeno.

Having scored 11 goals in their last two Premier League games, the Gunners failed to register a shot on target for the first time in two years against the Portuguese side.

And Arsenal’s toothlessness was ultimately punished when Galena cut inside and hit a long-range effort past David Raya in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

According to the Athletic’s Aaron Catterson-Reid, the result means that Arsenal have never won a European game at home under Arteta.

While they did technically win a ‘home’ tie against Benfica in 2020, the game was played in Greece due to COVID restrictions.

After their latest defeat, Arteta bemoaned a lack of aggression from his Arsenal side.

"We lacked threat, we lacked much more threat. More aggression [was needed], especially when we had the ball in the final third, especially in the back with more purpose to help them," Arteta said to TNT Sports after the game.

"We will tweak a few things to attack better especially because, to be fair, we haven't conceded much at all. But we can do better."

He added: "We have to manage it much better. When you cannot win, the way we handled the ball on three occasions in deep areas is not good enough.

Arteta has a dismal home European record at Arsenal (Getty)

"But it's half-time, if you want to get to the quarter-finals, you have to beat your opponent. And that's what we have to do at the Emirates now.

"It is a team that is very well organised defensively. They break your rhythm all the time, there were like 35 or 37 fouls in the game.

"So allowing that as well is not good enough and there are certain things we have to do much better. We play them at home, we know them now, we know them. We know what to expect.

"We couldn't even touch anybody, because everything was a free-kick. We will learn from that, prepare better and go and do it."

Topics: Arsenal, Champions League, Mikel Arteta, Porto, Benfica

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.