It has been in inconsistent start to the season for both Arsenal and Chelsea as they look to mount a sustained Premier League title challenge. But In the end, it was the Gunners who ran out 3-0 winners at the Emirates on Saturday.
For Arsenal under Arsene Wenger little has changed from last season and the team still seems to be lacking a sense of fluidity in the attacking phase. Alexis Sanchez who was so often the driving force in the final third for Arsenal last season seemed jaded and out of form and Mesut Ozil has been unable to find the killer pass to free his strikers.
Chelsea, on the other hand, have a new coach with the Italian Antonio Conte returning to club football after a spell in charge of the Italian national team. There have been positive signs from Conte as he instils a sense of defensive solidity to the team. The pre-season signing of N’Golo Kante shows signs of promise as he patrols the middle third and Eden Hazard seems to have discovered his form of two years ago.
Team News
For Arsenal, we see the continuation of the new-look central defensive partnership with Shkodran Mustafi partnering Laurent Koscielny. There was no place for fellow summer signing Granit Xhaka as Wenger chose to start with a double pivot of Francis Coquelin as the destroyer and Santi Cazorla the creator.
In the final third, there was again no place for Olivier Giroud with Alexis Sanchez moving off of the left flank and in to a central striking role. His role on the left was filled by the exciting Alex Iwobi.
Chelsea again lined up with the returning David Luiz at centre-back with Gary Cahill. In midfield, there was a place for the former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas who played alongside Nemanja Matic ahead of N’Golo Kante. Matic has looked unsure in his more advanced role so far this season.
Chelsea struggle in midfield
Over the last 12 months, Chelsea have struggled to find a balance in the midfield in terms of personnel. The addition of N'Golo Kante in the summer transfer window marginalised the defensive role of Nemanja Matic and we have seen the Serbian international pushed up the pitch into an area that is not comfortable for a player of his specific skillset.
This is the early stages of the match and Chelsea have taken up an extremely passive and static midfield position. The two advanced players are sitting in shape but they aren't actually contributing to the defensive phase short of perhaps blocking potential passing lanes.
Behind Matic and Fabregas we already have two Arsenal players who have identified the weak point of the Chelsea defensive structure and dropped into significant space. The Arsenal midfield with the double pivot at the base of midfield has comfortable possession with neither Matic nor Fabregas looking to apply pressure. As soon as the angle of the attack is shifted by the double pivot then passing lanes will open up to allow Arsenal to access this space.
As soon as the ball is passed through the first line of pressure in this manner Arsenal will be in a strong position to attack the Chelsea penalty area.
Chelsea were able to change their midfield strategy but unfortunately, they still did not find the balance necessary to negate the threat of the Arsenal attacking gameplan.
Now the Chelsea midfield structure has all but flattened out as both Matic and Fabregas have dropped back into negating the spaces that were being attacked by Arsenal. Now though they are almost entirely passive with the Arsenal double pivot now free to sit in their zone and dictate the pace and movement of the game.
Arsenal were content to allow their forward players to float around the final third moving in and out of space and trying to force Chelsea to abandon their defensive shape and structure. As soon as the Chelsea midfield is flattened out like this there will be space In and around their line for Arsenal to play through the structure.
Alexis Sanchez the false nine
The role of the false nine was perhaps officially named by the footballing world to describe the movement and positioning of Lionel Messi under Pep Guardiola when he floated in an almost free role at the point of the Barcelona attack.
In reality, though the role has existed for much longer dating back to the great Austria and Hungary teams of the early to mid-twentieth century. In this match, we saw the Chilean international Alexis Sanchez play in the false-nine role in an interesting tactical wrinkle added by Arsene Wenger.
Also read: Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea - Player Ratings
With Theo Walcott, Alex Iwobi and Mesut Ozil floating behind in the attacking midfield strata, Arsenal have players that are able and willing to drift across the width of the pitch to find space. On the right-hand side, for example, Hector Bellerin would advance wide from the full back zone and Walcott would take the chance to move into the half space to attack the holes in the Chelsea defensive line.
Here as Monreal advances with the ball through the left half space we can see that Alexis Sanchez has dropped off into the area of the pitch occupied by N'golo Kante. There is already a second Arsenal player in a similar zone on the strong side of Kante. This means that effectively Sanchez is unmarked.
One of the strengths of Sanchez’s game is his ability to burst in behind the defensive line with almost perfect timing. By dropping off of the defensive line he leaves the central defenders with nothing to mark but space. This passive form of defending is more difficult against players like Sanchez and we often saw him bursting beyond the defensive line.
Again as the ball is threaded through into the central area I have highlighted the movement and positioning of Alexis Sanchez in a withdrawn role. Another aspect of this role is that it empties space in and around the opposition defensive line for other players to attack and access. Walcott especially is adept at attacking these spaces.
Arsenal defend in a strong structure
One of the aspects of Arsenals tactical structure in recent years under Wenger that has attracted the most criticism is their defensive system.
In this game as the Chelsea started trying to get back into the game in the second half, we saw evidence of an extremely disciplined defensive approach from Arsenal. If we consider the midfield structure above of Arsenal in the defensive phase and compare this to what we have seen earlier in the match from Chelsea then we see a marked difference.
The Arsenal midfield is deeper and well positioned to shut off any lanes that Chelsea can use to access the space in front of the Arsenal defence.
Conclusion
It is usually difficult after a big match this early in the match to draw any significant conclusions. What is obvious however is that we are going to see a much more fluid Arsenal in the final third this season.
The experimentation with Sanchez in the false nine role opens up space and possibilities for a more vertical attacking game from Arsenal than we have seen in the past. Chelsea are still trying to find their stride under Conte. The issue of what to do with Matic needs to be addressed as quickly as possible as does the lack of confidence the rest of the team has in Branislav Ivanovic at right back.
Also read: EPL 2016/17: Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea - 5 Talking Points
3-0 was actually flattering in the end to Chelsea as Arsenal attacked in waves and weaved together passing moves that cut straight through the Chelsea defensive block. Arsene Wenger will certainly be the happier manager after the match.
