Mikel Arteta left his role as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City in 2019 to manage Arsenal.
Arteta is chasing his Premier League dream with his long-time mentor Pep Guardiola gradually gaining yards on him.
Arsenal’s six-point lead is impressive, but with the momentum shifting in Manchester City’s favour, every decision will feel more important than the last for the Gunners boss.
Prior to the Champions League quarter-final tie against Sporting, Arteta’s rallying cry to the players and fans was “no fear, pure fire”.
Some may be hoping for the same in his tactical set-up in the final few weeks of the season as the Spaniard calls for pure fire from those around the club.
Novel solutions, on and off the pitch, no matter how small, might decide the title.
Arsenal’s Recent Stumbles
Arsenal have stumbled by their usual high standards in recent games with losses to Manchester City and Bournemouth in the Premier League and Championship club Southampton in the FA Cup.
Manchester City boss Guardiola appeared to nullify much of Arsenal’s build-up with ease in the Carabao Cup final.
City set up in a 4-2-4 block with Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki blocking the middle of the pitch, while Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku pressed Arsenal’s centre-backs, angling their bodies in ways that blocked passes to the full-backs.
Arsenal struggled for a few reasons.
City’s Defensive Set-Up
City’s 4-2-4 allowed Arsenal’s central defenders to keep the ball, engaging less proactively compared with Bournemouth.
The key for City was to make it hard for Arsenal to access their midfield duo, while giving them reasons to doubt the pass into their full-backs, and ultimately enticing Arteta’s team to play the ball long where City then had a back four and one or two midfielders back – ready to mop up loose passes.
City’s 4-2-4 defensive shape is seen here against Arsenal.
- Haaland and Cherki were tasked with blocking passes into the midfielders.
- Doku and Semenyo had the job of pressing the central defenders.
- They also blocked the passing angle from Arsenal’s centre-backs to their full-backs.
Bournemouth’s Aggressive Approach
Bournemouth looked to apply pressure more aggressively.
Instead of lining up with a flat front four, their left-sided midfielder James Tavernier moved inside to support his central midfielders – particularly when Kai Havertz dropped deep looking to form a midfield three with Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice.
This decision left Ben White free at right-back, but striker Evanilson constantly looked to curve his runs to block off passes to th
Tactical Tweaks Could Decide the Title
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Nobody says who called first, but Arteta and Guardiola speak again – Balague.