Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal face a challenge as Manchester City gain ground in the Premier League title race. Every decision will feel more important than the last for the Gunners boss. Arteta gave up his role as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City in 2019 to take charge of Arsenal.
Arsenal’s Recent Stumbles
Arsenal have recently stumbled by their usual high standards. They suffered losses to Manchester City and Bournemouth in the Premier League, and Championship club Southampton in the FA Cup.
How Man City Nullified Arsenal’s Build-up
In the Carabao Cup final, Manchester City boss Guardiola appeared to nullify much of Arsenal’s build-up with ease. City set up in a 4-2-4 block. Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki blocked 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 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 saw Haaland and Cherki tasked with blocking passes into the midfielders whilst Doku and Semenyo had the job of pressing the central defenders and blocking the passing angle from Arsenal’s centre-backs to their full-backs.
Bournemouth’s Aggressive Pressure
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
Prior to the Champions League quarter-final tie against Sporting, “no fear, pure fire” was Arteta’s rallying cry to the players and fans. And as the Spaniard calls for pure fire from those around the club, some may be hoping for the same in his tactical set-up in the final few weeks of the season.
The six-point lead Arsenal have at this stage is an impressive one, but with the momentum shifting in Manchester City’s favour, every decision will feel more important than the last for the Gunners boss.
Novel solutions, on and off the pitch, no matter how small, might decide the title.