Tottenham Hotspur vs. Arsenal: Tactical Preview of North London Derby
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur clash on Saturday in the north London derby—an enticing fixture circled on millions of fans' Premier League calendars. Both sides are in excellent form and both fanbases have in-form favourites to hang their hopes on, so who will come out on top?
Arsenal News
Alexis Sanchez is a big question mark for Arsenal ahead of this fixture. Per Arsenal's official website (h/t International Business Times), Arsene Wenger admitted that the Chilean was "not close" to playing against Aston Villa, so he stands, at best, as 50/50 for the Tottenham clash.
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Gabriel Paulista, a new signing from Villarreal, could settle for the bench again, as Arsenal's back line has kept three clean sheets in a row. Laurent Koscielny is in great form, while Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal have impressed at full-back.
Francis Coquelin will anchor a much improved midfield, likely alongside Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla. Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud were magnificent against Villa and will continue—unless Alexis is fit enough to replace Walcott on one side.
Tottenham News
Mauricio Pochettino appears to be getting a true handle on his squad, bringing through the most impressive performers slowly but surely after experimenting early on.
The big dilemma here is in midfield, as Algeria's Nabil Bentaleb has returned from Africa Cup of Nations duty and will be pushing to play in holding midfield. Benjamin Stambouli has performed very well in his place, but Pochettino likes the Bentaleb-Ryan Mason combination. A lot.
Harry Kane will continue up top with Christian Eriksen to his left. Erik Lamela played against West Bromwich Albion, but Nacer Chadli will be pushing for a start as well now he's returned from compassionate leave.
Mousa Dembele playing in the No. 10 role has been an interesting experiment, but will it continue?
Key Point 1: Arsenal v2.0
Something really strange has happened at Arsenal over the past few weeks: They've morphed into a defensively stable yet still offensively potent team that can seemingly smash anyone on the counter-attack.
The transition-based football, reminiscent to a slight extent of the "Invincibles" side that sprang quick attackers into space and punished teams routinely on the reverse, has been founded upon key principles and also key players. Coquelin, Koscielny, Cazorla and whichever wing runners Wenger selects spell out everything positive about this system.
Wenger has converted his side back to a 4-3-3, placed Coquelin in front of the defence and brought Cazorla into a slightly deeper role. They drop back, defend with eight, pull the wingers back in to protect the full-backs and then spring runners forward on counters. In some ways, it's very 6x4 Jose Mourinho circa 2013-14.
The "position" of Arsenal's attackers is now not that important. Ozil and Walcott excelled against Villa, yet both received touches across the pitch. Ozil's heat map (courtesy of WhoScored) was so varied it's impossible to say which position he played in solely from checking his touches.
There were concerns ahead of Ozil's return to fitness that the 4-3-3—boasting flatter central-midfield roles the German was perceived as unable to play in and no No. 10 role, which is his bread and butter—would render him useless, but Wenger seems to have found a way to slot him in.
A true test of this will be against Tottenham in the derby. There's no way Pochettino's men will be as defensively inept as Villa, so just how suited Ozil is to this system will be very clear.
Key Point 2: Beware the Eriksen Free-Kick
We wouldn't usually highlight a player's brilliance from free-kicks in a tactical preview, but it feels like Pochettino is playing up to Eriksen's ability in a dead-ball situation and trying to create opportunities for him.
In the Dane's last two games, he's scored two beautiful free-kicks. Against Sheffield United, he was given four attempts to fire home from just outside the box, and against West Bromwich Albion, he scored on his very first try.
Are Spurs monopolising the ball in their opponents' territory, tempting them into fouls and converting via Eriksen's right boot? It's likely not Plan A, but the players know it's an option, and the recent team selections have been conducive to it.
Dembele, a talented dribbler who rarely loses the ball, is tough to dispossess. The Blades got antsy and starting chopping him and Lamela down, resulting in the goalkeeper picking the ball out of the net. Dembele is not a penetrative player, but he's very useful when it comes to retaining possession and drawing fouls.
Arsenal's new system means they will invite Spurs to have the ball, and the home side could average more possession, which creates a very intriguing tactical angle to this battle: Arsenal will try and nip the ball and counter at speed, while Spurs will be happy to lure their opponents into challenges and punish them with set pieces.
Both Coquelin and the Mason-Bentaleb/Stambouli combination need stellar, clean days.
