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The Premier League is back with an incredible top-six game on the cards as Manchester City prepare to take on Arsenal at the Etihad stadium. It's a must-win game for Mikel Arteta to keep Arsenal's hopes of European football alive.
In this article, we will analyse how Arsenal stand a chance to beat Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. By analysing the games the Sky Blues have lost this season and by exploiting their opponents' weaknesses, the North London outfit can take all three points.
On that note, we look at the ways how Arsenal can capitalise on the loopholes in Manchester City's play.
How Arsenal can capitalise on the loopholes in Manchester City's play:
Manchester City’s first defeat of this Premier League season came against Norwich City at Carrow Road. City conceded the first goal from a brilliant header by Kenny McLean off a corner. Conceding through set pieces has been one of the Sky Blues' weaknesses throughout the season, conceded nearly 25% of their goals in this way.
Nicolas Pepe has proved to be exceptional for Arsenal in dead-ball situations, while David Luiz and Pablo Mari have work to do.
Norwich’s next goal was one of the most underrated goals of the season, made with only four passes. An accurate long ball from Tim Krul to Emi Buendia deleted Manchester City's first line of press. Buendia followed up by dribbling past Rodrigo, therby nullifying City’s entire midfield. Stiepermann then played a simple through ball for Teemu Pukki to pounce on. Pukki got in behind, played it to Todd Cantwell across the pitch, and it was 2-0 before Ederson could blink.
Despite missing nearly nine starting players due to injury, Daniel Farke pulled off an absolute masterclass against Pep Guardiola. Norwich played in sensible attacks, knew how to beat Manchester City's press, defended for a majority of the game and did not allow City to create overloads on any side of the pitch.
Norwich City defended in a solid 4-4-2, with Stiepermann often dropping in between the midfield to make it a 4-1-4-1 without the ball, which proved to be a success against an attacking Manchester City side.
When Manchester City go down and are chasing the game, they are more vulnerable. Both their box-to-box midfielders were behind Norwich City’s midfield when Rodrigo had the ball. The space City leave in between is massive, and they have been made to pay for it countless times this season. If Rodri was dispossessed, the attackers would have been only up against the centre-backs. This is exactly how Pukki and Cantwell caught Manchester City's midfield and defence napping in many instances throughout the game.
Tottenham Hotspur are among the teams who are unbeaten against Manchester City this season, while Manchester United and Wolves did the double over the champions. What was common in these matches was that all the teams played a 2-man striker-less partnership upfront at least once against Pep Guardiola's, and it did the trick for them.
Looking into Manchester United’s win at the Etihad, I dug deep into how Ole Gunnar Solskaer outperformed the best tactician of the decade. While people say Solskjaer relied on counter-attacking only, there was more to it. He played a 4-2-3-1 on paper, that more often than not was a 4-3-1-2.
The below image shows one instance from the game where Anthony Martial dropped back to the halfway line, as a result taking Rodri out of position. This helped Jesse Lingard to exploit the half spaces on the left flank without any pressure. Lingard played the ball to Marcus Rashford and made a simple run into the box. Kevin De Bruyne and Bernado Silva's failure to track back let Lingard free, and City eventually conceded a shot on target.
Once again, Manchester United won possession in their own half (below), with nearly eight Manchester City players behind the ball. One pass from Fred to Lingard, and their whole midfield was cancelled. This happened several times throughout the ninety minutes, and the eventual scoreline was pretty flattering for the home fans.
Jesse Lingard's positional awareness, as surprising as this sounds, was top notch in this game. Playing an attacking midfielder on paper, he was found on the left flank for majority of the game, which left Kyle Walker with two men to mark.
Lingard's darting blind-sided runs into the box and how he exploited the half spaces Manchester City failed to cover were second to none. Rodri and Fernandinho had no clue how to stop Lingard in that game.
Solksjaer had at least two players up with Manchester City's defence; everytime Manchester United pounced on a loose ball and were ready to counter, Pep Guardiola's City had no answer.
Manchester City had nearly 70% possession in that game, yet the only way they could break down the away side was through a set-piece. Manchester City played twice the number of passes as Manchester United yet they succumbed to a defeat in the last Manchester derby of the 2010's decade.
Against Arsenal, Manchester City, as usual, are expected to line up in their 4-3-3, considering Pep Guardiola does not pull of a last minute change in his formation.
Manchester City's 4-3-3 consists of:
- two box to box midfielders working in between the lines
- wingers providing width
- overlapping/inverted fullbacks
- a defensive midfielder as a single pivot.
The best formation to counter Manchester City's 4-3-3 is, you guessed it, an open expansive 4-2-3-1 that Arsenal have been playing under Mikel Arteta. Arsenal played the same formation when Manchester City travelled to the Emirates earlier this year. But Manchester City thrashed Arsenal three goals to nil in that game and deservingly so.
This is why a double pivot is unlikely to work against a high-intensity side like Manchester City who dominate games courtesy of their resilient midfield. However, one of the best formations to counter a 4-3-3 is a 4-4-2 diamond.
A 4-4-2 diamond provides:
- numerical advantage in midfield
- easier to form triangles; three players in five zones
- a solid pressing shape
- three players always high up the pitch in key positions to exploit the fullbacks' spaces.
This formation provides a perfect base for Arsenal's three forwards to do their job up front, without commiting too many bodies forward. Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang coming up 1v1 against Manchester City's centre-backs gives Arsenal massive chances of scoring on counters.
The 4-4-2 diamond helps in packing the midfield with numbers, and this will help to contain the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva who are masters of breaking in between the lines. As a result, Arsenal's fullbacks will have to be at their game in order to minimise City's crosses. Outnumbering Manchester City in midfield by 3:4 would push City's midfielders out wide, building more pressure through the flanks.
The diamond provides numbers in midfield but lacks natural width, and taking into account Arsenal do not have any natural goal-scoring wingers in their ranks except Pepe, this suits them the best. It could represent Arsenal's best way to take all three points at Manchester City.
