ARSENAL host Manchester City this weekend in a huge top of the table clash.
Mikel Arteta’s side will be looking to keep pace with Liverpool at the Prem’s summit, having lost to the Reds last month.
In their way will be old foes Man City, who after a disappointing season last time out are looking to return to title contention.
Pep Guardiola’s side have undergone plenty of changes during the last 18 months – with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundogan and Julian Alvarez having moved on.
The City boss will be looking to prove that his side mean business this season despite some early bumps in the road, while Arteta’s men want to show that they now have the former champions’ number.
SunSport’s tactical expert Dean Scoggins dives into another brilliant analysis…
RODRI AND THE MIDFIELD BATTLE
I think that Arsenal have got the ability to overpower and overthink Manchester City’s midfield.
I watched back the Man Utd-Man City game and I’ve gone through the games earlier in the season. I think Man City have got a Rodri problem.
The Ballon d’Or winner, Rodri, I know – but it feels a little bit to me that Rodri isn’t quite getting what the Pep Guardiola press is supposed to be.
In the Wolves game, Man City were very good. Nico Gonzalez was playing.
If Man Utd were better in the Manchester derby, then I think that they would have taken advantage of that problem too.
The issue that City are going to have is that they are pressing with three up. That midfield triangle worked very well against Manchester United, Rodri at the base, Foden and Reijnders as the other two.
But Arsenal in a defensive playing out scenario will push a full-back one side and the other, and then they split the centre-backs, and then either Martin Zubimendi or Declan Rice will drop into the holding position.
This is Arsenal playing out from the back. So, let’s move Man City’s back four almost up, and then we’ve got Rodri. The problem I think they’re having is Rodri is neither joining the attack press or helping the defensive press.
I think it’s this area where Arsenal are going to get the most joy. These two boxes, one box here and one box here, because one of the City full-backs is jumping into this press. They did it against United, and the United wing-backs did not take advantage of it, and they didn’t play out.
So, let’s imagine the ball’s with David Raya, and Arsenal drop in. They’re going to press the keeper, obviously, and they’ll try and block off that pass, as we know with that curved run.
Then what happens is these two press, but what then is happening for Man City is that they’re allowing a full-back to jump into here to go and press this position.
Then City are getting themselves into a position where they’re very high.
So then you think, right, okay, defence shuffles across, but Rodri is getting himself in a position where he’s halfway in between the defence and the attack. Brighton did it four times.
Rodri’s getting stuck in between those two things.
But what Arsenal will try and do is invite pressure in a little triangle, because if they can do that, and Rodri’s stuck in this position, they get the ball to the wide man or the full-back or whoever comes over this side.
It might be Mikel Merino, it might be Zubimendi, who comes over into that position, plays the ball wide and pings it away.
What Rodri has to do is either allow his left eight to go and take that position and he joins the press so that they don’t allow them to go and beat the press. They go in man for man.
Or, more likely, as Arsenal get out more directly, as they do, is the full-back goes in and Rodri joins the back line. So, Rodri then has to drop into the back four to make them a four again when this full-back is going up and down in the press.
What City are doing much more this season comes from Pep Lijnders’ influence. This is like Liverpool from two years ago – they want to press really, really high up and win it back in those areas.
Because with the attackers they’ve got this this area, as we saw against Man Utd, that is very dangerous.
But I think Arsenal are going to get so much joy from two bounce passes and then a direct pass into that area.
It’s absolutely how they exploit it. We’re not quite sure who will play in that Arsenal front five.
But if Martin Odegaard’s not fit, and Bukayo Saka’s not fit, you can expect Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze to be either side of Viktor Gyokeres.
If Arsenal can play the ball in a little area here and then get Rodri stuck, so he doesn’t know whether he’s going across to this eight, which could be Eze, or if he’s coming across to this eight area, which could be Madueke coming off the wing or one of the midfielders stepping in, then he’s got an enormous amount of ground to cover.
And he’s making the two eights and the full-backs cover far too much ground. So, it’s a bit tricky, and I fear for City a little bit in that environment.
In that press set-up, Rodri can’t do a two-man job. It’s too big.
WHY ISN’T MYLES LEWIS-SKELLY PLAYING?
I am a little bit surprised because of how well Myles Lewis-Skelly played last year. He’s amazing at duelling and in 1v1s. And playing in an inverted position he keeps the ball incredibly well.
But Arsenal haven’t been doing that as well this season.
This year, we’re seeing more wildcard full-backs. You could also say that about Nico O’Reilly.
Manchester City use O’Reilly as a left-back, but really his instinct is to go forward having grown up as a No10.
Calafiori is also a wildcard. And the reason that I think it’s happening is partly because of Eze and partly because of Gyokeres.
When Arsenal have been using Merino and Zubimendi in midfield as well as Rice, that means you don’t need Lewis-Skelly inverting.
Gyokeres will look to occupy the two centre-backs, which should free somebody up.
But what Arsenal are doing is using the left eight, which has been Merino in a couple of games, to form that triangle.
What that means is you’re going to invite a full-back in and you’re going to try and push the other guy back out, possibly Phil Foden or Tijjani Reijnders.
But what is happening here with Arsenal is it’s interchangeable. So if Eze comes into this position, then he, Merino and Calafiori can interchange.
Let’s just say Eze goes from out to in, Merino will go out and occupy that left-hand space, which allows Calafiori to make that bombing run foward, which is a run that Lewis-Skelly doesn’t really make.
Lewis-Skelly wants to come in here and join the midfield and make a midfield two and play in there.
I’m not saying that’s not going to work this season. That’s just the games that they’ve played so far, horses for courses, and Calafiori has started the season really, really well.
I love the positions he picks up. It’s really, really exciting.
What Calafiori brings is that wildcard, as I mentioned. And also, when you create that front five, I talk about it so often, where you go into a 3-2-5 shape.
So the back four goes in, let’s bring Merino back in as if he’s the point of that triangle. Eze can go out and Calafiori comes in there. And he becomes that left ten. Then you’ve got Gyokeres, Madueke or whoever it is, Odegaard going into that position there, and you’ve got your right winger.
You create that front five and he becomes a real issue for defenders that way. That’s why he’s being picked, because he’s that extra attacking player.
And when you’ve got the tactical nous of Merino, who’s done that in those positions… Remember last season, all we ever talked about with Arsenal was that musical chairs on the right-hand side, because it was Ben White or Jurrien Timber, Odegaard and Saka.
And with Merino and Calafiori, Arsenal are creating that on that side of the field.
The balance of their attacks has been better with Calafiori and also it gives them that extra runner going in behind.
When perhaps Eze wants to cut in and play as the ten, Calafiori can provide the width and the legs on that side. That’s why, and I think in this game, given that we’re going to see a midfield battle of 3v3 in there, Rodri, Foden and Reijnders probably, against Zubimendi, Merino and Rice, that will be why Calafiori is preferred again.
I do think Lewis-Skelly struggled in those games against PSG and Real Madrid last season from a tactical perspective. But look, he’s a young lad. He’s a sensational player.
And I actually think there’ll be times where Arteta will start to use him as a midfielder if he needs to. But Arsenal have two players in every position, they’re pretty well blessed.
SHOULD EBERECHI EZE START?
Well, yes is definitely the short answer. I think he’s had a good start, but I don’t think we can go so far as to say he’s blown the doors off yet.
He’s been high quality, but I think Arsenal fans are probably expecting a little bit more. And so, again, I’m going to talk a little bit about Calafiori here again in this Eze part, and it’s relevant to Merino.
City will look to press with a three, and then you’re going to drop Rice or Zubimendi in to go and join the back four to play out.
Then, as I said, Rodri gets a little bit stuck. What Manchester United didn’t do well was this, was pick up this ball here.
Eze will come into that position, giving Rodri a real, real problem. I expect Arsenal to build up much more on the right-hand side, they’ll flood this area.
You think, all right, we’re man for man here. We’ve got a cover man here and we’ve got the striker covered 2v1.
So then, Gyokeres makes a very unselfish run. That’s what he’ll do.
That’s what they’re playing for. So then, you can have a midfielder come in and they’ll look for a ball back in, either to the goalkeeper or the other centre-back, so that they can play into this area here. Calafiori, don’t forget him.
And then there’s Eze. Eze’s natural instinct is what they did for Palace as well, so this is going to be no shock to him.
I use the phrase cheating a lot in games. I say that when I coach my boys’ team as well. It’s like, he’s cheating you there as a defender because he’s not running back.
But we talked about it with Mbeumo a couple of weeks ago, where he’s occupying a space where the midfielder and the defenders aren’t quite sure what to do.
Is the right-half defender, the right eight, going to go back into him? Probably not.
If Odegaard is fit, then you have a decision to make with Eze – are you leaving out Merino, Rice or Zubimendi? Or do you then say, OK, we’re going to play one of those midfielders in a left position against City to be solid first?
IS ‘FINISHERS’ LABEL JUST WAFFLE?
After Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard both scored having being summoned from the bench against Athletic Bilbao in mid-week, Arteta was at pains to stress the importance of his bench.
The Spaniard labelled his subs as “finishers” – echoing former England rugby boss Eddie Jones.
It’s a bit of PR, isn’t it? And it’s also to keep the squad happy. They’ve got so many players now.
They’ve now got an absolute embarrassment of riches, two high-class players in every single position.
When Havertz and Odegaard are back from injury, they have got a lot of squad happiness to deal with.
Martinelli’s going to get the hump fairly soon. it’s not a bad thing that players get the hump. They want to play.
From this finisher’s perspective, Arsenal are going to wear a lot of teams down this season. They are going to be dominant for large parts of the game and then wear a team down and then probably end up winning two or 3-0.
And that’s where they struggled last year. Because as games went on, teams got more belief against Arsenal. But when they can make changes like this, opposition heads may drop.
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