Good day to the Arsenal Family!!
Are we super excited for this game? Why shouldn’t we be..? The reason? Well, Mikel Arteta has instilled an unbelievable amount of self-belief in this young team, a fight that is reminiscent of battle-hardened warriors. Take your mind back to the Reiss Nelson Goal at the death against Bournemouth. That goal made me believe in our team more than anything. When someone from the bench comes in and does that for your team right at the death, it says so much about the collective mental strength of the group. Belief is the keyword till the very end of this season if we’re to compete with this robotic Man City side.
Although, the last 3 results have been utterly disappointing, we move on to the most significant game in Arteta’s young career as a manager. Possibly, the most significant game of the Emirates Era. The pressure is immense, against a team that is arguably the best in the world. It’s the Master Vs The Apprentice. It’s Mikel Arteta Vs Pep Guardiola.
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THE PERSPECTIVE
I never want to bring this up in any game or on any forum because it gives an air of finding excuses even before the game has started. But the significance is immense and the media trial that Arsenal has been put on… for what ?! Celebrating?! Give me a break!!! At such a time, the fans have to be together and get behind the team till the very last game has been played.
Need I remind you, even having the best coach is not enough in the Premier league since you need players who execute the managers’ vision on the field. Taking a look at the table below, Pep since joining City has spent unreal amounts of money on his defense alone (Source:transfermarkt.com) :
The significant years , marked as Year 1 & 2 are the initial years of both Managers at the helm. Arsenal haven’t been able to match the spending prowess of Oil Rich/State Owned Manchester City obviously but still have spent significantly to support Mikel Arteta, after his initial clear-out was complete. I have deliberately left out wages per week expense which would further strengthen the point trying to be made here.
There are two things to gather from the above little analysis:
1. Our Manager can never have the magic wand that allows Pep to buy anyone he wants
2. Arsenal are still in the phase of squad building and would probably need three more windows to complete the squad depth.
Lots of fans might disagree with it but that is the significance of the matter, this is a young team that is giving everyone nightmares. So as far to say as this, my personal source of satisfaction at the start of this season from Arsenal was to secure a top 3 finish. But of-course, we all want this to go down to the wire and for us to win it. Truth is, the media is already piling on the pressure and calling it a failure even though we are still 05 points ahead of City. We need to gear up for the run in and support the team and the manager.
FIVE Things to look at – Arsenal v City – The Etihad
#1 – MIKEL ARTETA’s TACTICAL SETUP
There had been a lot of speculations about William Saliba’s availability in this game but if the news reports are to be believed, he is sure to miss out. So how will the boss set Arsenal up in this game? By now we all are familiar with the general characteristics that Arsenal XI has had under Mikel Arteta. The high very well coordinated press, Zinchenko playing as an inverted Fb/ Central MF , the intelligence of Xhaka in his newly found #8 role this season, the wing forwards mostly remaining high & wide, but currently the problem position remains Rob holding.
Rob Holding
Without any grain of doubt, we absolutely love and admire Rob Holding as a player. We all value his courageous performances from time to time when called upon. But it is obvious as daylight that he has limitations during the build up play and with the ball at his feet. This results in Arsenal taking longer to progress the ball efficiently while inviting more number of pressures towards our goal leading to possession turnovers. In addition, his lack of ability on the ball results in him not being able to pick Ben White & Bukayo Saka enough. This causes a paralysis of the ball progression on the right hand side of the build up. As backed by Stats from a Skysports article, as compared to Saliba, the passes towards Saka & White drop by 50% when Holding starts. The third and probably the more important thing as a pressing unit, is the defensive line that Arsenal is employing. Below, I have tried to compare side by side of the last premier league game played by Saliba (away) to Fulham, and the game (away) at West Ham in which Holding played (Source:Sofascore.com)
The heat map here shows that Arsenal are forced on the backfoot as Holding plays deeper arguably because of his lack of pace. Saliba in comparison, holds his own and has terrific speed on the chase. All in all, we are going away to one of or probably the best team in the world at the moment, so Arteta must take Holding out of the lime light. Alternatively, he could switch the system to a back three and sacrifice the control of the game from minute one. For reference, the FA cup game should be enough of a reminder where Holding had to be taken off at half time. I don’t claim to be a tactical genius but I want the gaffer to show his tactical prowess/flexibility and get us something out of this game.
#2- GRANIT XHAKA
Credit: BT Sport
Xhaka has been phenomenal all season, there is no second opinion on it barring some stupid people who have a deep seated hate for some reason probably instigated by the media. There is something about Xhaka that ruffles the feathers of everyone around, the media, sometimes the opposition and at times even our own fan base who are ready to jump on him. The planted questions when Xhaka received a yellow card at Anfield by mainstream channels while interviewing Mikel Arteta citing that moment as the game changer were absolutely ridiculous.
Xhaka’s intelligence is unmatched in this team, probably only Jorginho is at par with him in this regard. Thomas Partey was very fidgety in the last game and the game before it, so he will surely welcome Xhaka back in the team as he seems to have a calming effect on him. The Central Midfield has to be on top of their game for us to have any chance of usurping the Citizens.
The calls are coming in for a Xhaka-Boom… he did it last year against one half of Manchester, maybe it’s time for the other half to face the music. Currently, he is a doubt for this game but hopefully he will make it in time for the trip to Etihad. He will be a big miss if he does not play.
#3- MARTINELLI/BUKAYO SAKA/GABRIEL JESUS
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 30: (L-R) Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli of Arsenal during the Emirates Cup match between Arsenal and Seville at Emirates Stadium on July 30, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
One thing is for sure, we will create chances as we have done in the past 02 games against City this season. The 3-1 defeat at home was a benchmark game barring Tomiyasu’s mistake and KDB’s (again) big performance on the day. We had 64% possession and had City exactly where we wanted, but couldn’t take advantage of wonderful attacking situations. In the other game, the FA Cup loss at the Etihad, we again had a very decent game and had some terrific chances which couldn’t be put away resulting in City narrowly winning it through an unlikely source in Nathan Ake.
Our super star front three trio have to step up and be on their toes and finish off City from the chances that will be created in this game. Bukayo Saka has a massive opportunity since City will miss Nathan Ake, who had been brilliant and from what I’ve seen this season, the only defender who has had a slight upper hand in 1 v 1 battles against our Star boy aka Saka. Ake will be out because of a hamstring injury and we need to take advantage in the game early.
P.S: It is the return to his 1st home in England for Gabriel Jesus, he was binned for Erling Haaland as a starter at City, lost his starting place in the Brazil National team at the world cup to none other than “Richarlison”. He needs to prove a point to his old Gaffer. (Adding in a touch of spice to this tie as if it needs any more of it. Trying to light up a fire in his belly)
…and it is not just me saying this, one of our very own #Invincibles seems to think so too…
Kolo Toure on Jesus & Zinchenko:
‘Those two players want to hurt City and show how big a mistake they made to let them leave,’ Toure says.
‘Jesus is looking at Erling Haaland and thinking, “They took this guy to play my position. He’s fantastic but I will show them.” Zinchenko the same, “You didn’t rate me highly? You thought I was a squad player? I want to show you I’m better than the players you have.”
#4- RODRI & Co – The Dirty play in the midfield
Arsenal have to look out for this ploy in a Guardiola team. Numerous times over the years from Fernandinho to now Rodri in this current Manchester City team, make fouls in places of the field and in the first quarter of the games to quash any chance of insurgence from the opposition. This will happen again in this game. The only thing Arsenal have to do in the early exchanges is to not get frustrated by the break in rhythm at every opportunity. Rodri has become a master, as they say, of the Dark Arts. There might be a bit of a tussle in with Martin Odegaard as well remembering Rodri’s brainless tackle on Odegaard during the last international break when they faced off.
The initial 20-25 minutes are key in this game. Arsenal have shown either to absolutely shred the opposition to pieces in the first 25 minutes or self destruct while snoozing on the pitch conceding very sloppy early goals (against Bournemouth & against Southampton). Against City, at the Etihad, the option of sitting in is not going to work. City will absolutely pin us down the whole game if we sit in. Initial 20-25 minutes I expect Arsenal to create a few chances and hopefully score and shake them up. This is where Rodri will come in to break it up, simulation fouls and his dirty skill set. Lets’ just hope the referee is bold enough to play a fair game at the home of the Champions.
Watch your ankles and your legs @ Bukayo Saka & Gabriel Jesus in particular.
#5- DONT CRUMBLE UNDER THE WEIGHT OF EXPECTATIONS-
Mikel Arteta has been a master at strengthening this young team mentally. The situations from which they’ve come back this season and showed the resolve to not give up in games is unbelievable. They will have to muster up as this is a huge test, if they win at City, they will make a huge step towards winning the league. Stats obviously go against us, we have’nt beaten Pep’s City in the league since he joined them and this might just be the fitting time to do it, at their backyard.
PREDICTIONS: I expect, (Pray/Hope) Arsenal to win 2-1 at the Etihad & then we can all celebrate like crazy without needing the approval of Richard Keys & Company.
32-year old Arsenal FC fan since 2002. Started following Arsenal because of the gorgeous style of football they used to play and soon fell in love with WENGER-BALL. Still can’t believe how Mr. Wenger managed to make a very complex game look so simple and beautiful. Keen observer of tactics and love to analyse data and statistics. Passionate about writing on Arsenal-related stuff.
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