Arsenal: Olympiakos Fixture CANNOT Be Lost

Ruud Gullit made an interesting point in his post-match analysis of Arsenal’s 5-2 victory over Leicester at the weekend. The Dutch ex-midfielder noted that while the Gunners can play with fluidity on the break in away matches, there is less space when they play at home which leaves their attacking players with less freedom to run.

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Arsenal always hold possession well at home, but there is a lack of chance creation at times which leads to totally wasteful possession. They can spread the field with their full backs. Yet they end up being exposed because of the amount of players they have in attack who are there to simply pass the ball around.

Europe brings a whole other set of challenges to the Emirates stadium. Greek champions Olympiakos are a much different side to Leicester City. One of the mistakes the Foxes made in their matchup with Arsenal at the weekend was that they tried to somewhat beat Arsenal at their own game. Claudio Ranieri, like Arsene Wenger, is a fan of the counter attack and a manager who loves to play beautiful football. Using the players he had at his disposal, he attempted to catch Arsenal on the break with his quick attacking players and play the ball in behind the Gunners’ defense.

In the first 20 minutes of the game, Jamie Vardy could have had a hat trick if he had not hit the woodwork twice from two golden chances. The English forward capitalized on Per Mertesacker’s lack of pace and ran at the bulky German center-half, but he could only put the ball past Petr Cech once.

Leicester could have easily won this match if they had not had some terrible luck in the first half. Following Vardy’s header that cracked against the crossbar, Arsenal pushed the ball out of defense. They proceeded to counter the counter-attack made by Leicester and score themselves. That goal paved the way for more flashy offensive play in the second half, and eventually they put themselves 4-1 up after some brilliant play from Alexis Sanchez.

The weak Leicester defense was over-confident at times and exposed. The same thing will not happen against Olympiakos on Tuesday afternoon. Though Marco Silva’s side lost 4-0 to Bayern Munich on match day 1, that is a poor sample size considering the ridiculous strength of Bayern’s team. Arsenal suffer a similar fate most times they play Bayern Munich. Comparisons about a difference in class cannot be drawn this early in the competition.

Olympiakos have ambitions of qualifying in second place of this group and knocking out Arsenal. They will be taking this game just as seriously as their opponents from North London. Manager Marco Silva has likely watched footage of the Gunners’ attacking play when they are at home. His team must be compact and break with pace for their game at the Emirates.

Arsenal CANNOT Lose The Upcoming Olympiakos Fixture

By Finn Laister-Smith | Sep 29, 2015

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