Arsenal Must Press to Protect Their Own Defence from Vardy and Musa
You’d have got long odds against both of last season’s Premier League top two losing on the opening day of the new season, and anyone who did have a flutter will have been handsomely rewarded.
Leicester City kicked off the campaign with a terrible 2-1 defeat to newly promoted, steeped-in-turmoil Hull City, while Arsenal closed out the weekend’s play with an exhilarating 4-3 loss to Liverpool.
The results slide these two teams firmly under the microscope, as uncertain summers have no doubt plagued their preparations for the 2016-17 season, and an opening loss only serves to weaken the ground beneath. In Arsene Wenger’s case, it’s tempting to suggest there are already a few fissures on show.
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It also heaps pressure on their contest this weekend, as both will be desperate to snap back to winning ways, yet both also have a number of questions to answer with regard to how they’ll line up and which personnel will take to the field.
Leicester City
There was an N’Golo Kante-shaped hole in Leicester City’s midfield last Saturday; his presence was sorely missed in a number of areas.
In 2015-16, the Frenchman was a defensive monster, leading the Premier League in tackles and interceptions, according to WhoScored.com, and Andy King failed to exert himself in the centre alongside Danny Drinkwater.
Kante’s weaving dribbles from deep and understated linking of the midfield moves were missed even more, though, with King and Drinkwater a far less dynamic, mobile pair.
The question now is simple: Should Claudio Ranieri plug Nampalys Mendy (injured for Saturday but bought as the Kante replacement) into this side and continue in a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1-esque shape or should he shift systems and add a body to central midfield?
Robert Huth will likely be restored to the defensive line after serving his suspension, meaning Luis Hernandez, who had an awful afternoon at the KCOM Stadium last weekend, will drop to the bench. It also means Wes Morgan can go back to the RCB slot—he was moved to LCB to accommodate his new partner—and that will hopefully spark an improvement from him, too.
Demarai Gray flashed excellence against Hull but also made some poor decisions, opening the door for the more "reliable" Marc Albrighton to start should Ranieri feel it necessary.
Arsenal
Arsene Wenger told reporters at his pre-match press conference that he may take a gamble on the fitness of his returning Euro 2016 stars. Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud have all returned to training late and were not involved against Liverpool.
The motivation for playing Koscielny and Ozil here is clear: They might not be fully fit, but Wenger should be rightly fearful of Jamie Vardy and Ahmed Musa going up against Rob Holding and Calum Chambers, and Aaron Ramsey’s latest hamstring injury leaves them a little short in the advanced midfield area.
Alexis Sanchez can continue up front if Giroud can’t go, and this area will spark the least concern given the presence of Theo Walcott. He isn't at his best as the central striker, but there’s hardly a depth issue that Giroud must be rushed back to solve.
Granit Xhaka joined the fray against Liverpool and proceeded to commit four fouls in 23 minutes, according to WhoScored.com, and he picked up a yellow card, too. Wenger will be eager to slot him into the midfield setup soon, but he may refrain a while longer. Mohamed Elneny was one of few to emerge in credit on the opening weekend and should keep his place.
Pressure point 1: Arsenal’s protective press
Going into the Arsenal vs. Liverpool fixture, the focus was placed on the Reds’ ability to press and how it would affect the Gunners’ makeshift defensive line. Throughout pre-season, Jurgen Klopp had instructed his men to sear forward and force mistakes—the 4-0 deconstruction of Barcelona at Wembley Stadium showcasing the very best of it—and it was expected to be a major tactical factor at the Emirates Stadium.
Instead, it was Arsenal’s pressing that stole the show—at least in the first half, anyway. They were aggressive from the get-go, pursuing Liverpool into deep areas and stopping them from stringing passes together. Pictured below is a prime example of how effective it was:
Arsenal’s front four play with aggressiveness and confront the visitors in possession high up. An advanced midfield line of Walcott, Ramsey and Iwobi is nothing if not mobile, and they frequently forced the Reds to pass backwards and back to goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. Inside the first two minutes, Mignolet pulled off a risky trick to escape Alexis’ press while possession was with him in his own box.
This pressing felt extremely deliberate. It was executed with the intention of masking the deficiencies further back (Holding and Chambers as a central defensive pairing), meaning Liverpool were unable to work them as they’d have planned to pre-game. Stopping them playing forward passes and locking them out of the offensive third using pressing worked a treat; it was defending from the front at its finest.
It’s likely Wenger will look to employ this tactic again against Leicester—not only because Koscielny will be rusty, and he’ll be alongside one of Chambers or Holding if he returns, but also because stopping the supply early will prevent Vardy running riot on the shoulder, latching onto longer passes in behind. In particular, it’ll be important to get bodies close to Drinkwater to stop him launching dimes into the space behind.
Arsenal’s press dropped off significantly in the second half against Liverpool, and Klopp's men were able to gain a foothold, then scored three in a 14-minute spell that put the game beyond the hosts’ reach. That lapse can’t happen again or another loss beckons.
Pressure point 2: Left-sided combinations
Arsenal’s attacking strategy for this game is difficult to pre-empt as it’s unclear if Ozil and Giroud will feature. Should Wenger roll the dice and play them both, the attacking plan will revert to the very central-based, link-heavy play we saw last season, as Giroud served as the target and Ozil the creative fulcrum, but if not, it will be key to lean on what was some very good left-sided buildup on show against Liverpool.
Alexis may not have impacted the game much, but he occupied the defence and made some very good darts into the area between Nathaniel Clyne and Dejan Lovren. This freed up space for Iwobi to duck into, and he did so, with Nacho Monreal overlapping to create a numerical overload.
Lovren and Clyne struggled with these moves due to the quick, snappy nature of them—the ball was moved on the turn and often first time, meaning tracking became very hard—and a similar strategy can trouble the Foxes.
On paper, that’s the flank you’d target when playing against Leicester anyway, as Danny Simpson is widely perceived to be the weak link in the XI and Riyad Mahrez doesn’t always track back. In fact, there are times when the Algerian sits high up and waits for the release pass to counter with, heaping pressure on Simpson to do one-and-a-half jobs—the away victory over Crystal Palace last season was a prime example of this.
In the light of Arsenal’s combination play down the left on Sunday—not only from the starters but from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Santi Cazorla when they entered play—don’t be surprised to see a continuation of this, with the Gunners stressing the space around Simpson in order to find joy.
