Arsenal played well but still could not beat Manchester City. Photo / Getty Images
Mikel Arteta unveiled a new tactical strategy in Arsenal’s trip to Manchester City, as he attempted to avoid a repeat of his team’s 2-0 defeat in the Carabao Cup final last month.
It was a bold, front-footed approach by a manager who has been accused this season of being too conservative with his set-up, and in the first half, it proved relatively effective.
For the second time in two games between these sides, though, Pep Guardiola’s team once again took control of the match after the break.
As it was at Wembley Stadium in March, City won the midfield battle and then struck the decisive goal after about an hour of action.
Here, Telegraph Sport analyses how Arsenal altered their approach in the first half – and how City then overcame it in the second.
On numerous occasions in the opening exchanges of the game, Declan Rice was Arsenal’s most advanced player out of possession. This was a highly unusual sight, with Rice normally tasked with patrolling the centre of the midfield.
The reason for Rice’s advanced position was that he had evidently been asked to man-mark Rodri, the midfielder who does so much to set the tone for City. Even when Rodri went deep into his own penalty area, Rice chased him in.
Rice took up positions higher up the pitch and towards the left at the Etihad Stadium compared with Wembley, where most of his activity was around the centre spot.
Alongside Rice, Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was similarly aggressive in his attempts to stop his opposite number Bernardo Silva from driving City forward.
“They stepped a little bit higher than in the Carabao Cup,” Guardiola said. “They were so aggressive in man-marking.”
Arsenal did not necessarily win the midfield battle in all of these moments, but they did largely succeed in keeping City away from their penalty area. In the first half, City made only 12 “final-third entries”, as defined by statisticians Opta, compared to Arsenal’s 23.
“The high press was really good,” Odegaard said. “We looked dangerous.”
Very few defenders in world football are capable of handling Erling Haaland on their own, especially when playing in a high defensive line. In William Saliba, Arsenal have a player who is strong and fast enough to deal with the City striker in small spaces and over big distances.
This meant that Saliba’s centre-half partner, Gabriel Magalhaes, could push up the pitch and mark Rayan Cherki. Just as it was unusual to see Rice pressing high in the final third, it was strange to see Gabriel sprinting towards Cherki deep in City’s territory. “Gabriel jumped 80 yards to follow Cherki,” Guardiola said.
Saliba versus Haaland and Gabriel versus Cherki. These were the individual battles that Arteta wanted to create. In the case of Saliba and Haaland in the first half, it worked. Haaland was quiet before the break. Gabriel, however, struggled against Cherki and was beaten by the Frenchman for City’s opening goal.
Arsenal would have been happy with the first half, especially because their high-pressing efforts directly resulted in Kai Havertz’s equaliser. But as it was at Wembley last month, the flow of the game changed dramatically in a 20-minute spell immediately after halftime. “The second half we started really well, in the first 15 to 20 minutes,” Guardiola said.
Perhaps because they did not have the physical capacity to press as aggressively throughout the game, and perhaps also because City had wised up to Arsenal’s strategy, the home side took control and forced Arsenal back towards their own goal.
As ever, Rodri played a key role. The Spaniard dominated the second half, with Arsenal’s midfielders unable to get close to him. By the end of the game, Arsenal did not even seem sure which player was supposed to be marking Rodri.
The change in momentum allowed City to dominate the territory and suddenly, the game was taking place much closer to David Raya in the Arsenal goal. City’s touches in the opposition’s box rose from 15 in the first half to 25 in the second half. Their final-third entries rose from 12 to 33. They also made 94 passes in the final third in the second half, compared with 68 in the first half.
Another shift was that Haaland appeared to gravitate towards Gabriel, away from the clutches of Saliba. This was a fruitful strategy, with Gabriel unable to stop Haaland from scoring the winner. The Brazilian also lost his composure against Haaland and was lucky to avoid a red card for an apparent headbutt, in a moment that symbolised how City once again had the edge over their title rivals.
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