Arsenal Vs West Ham: Two strikers and a back three? No, no, no

Unai Emery tried to play with a back three and two strikers in Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to West Ham United. It didn’t work, and it is absolutely obvious why.

When Arsenal signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang last January for a club-record £56 million, one of the very first questions that was asked of the move was whether he and Alexandre Lacaztte, a fellow striker who was signed just six months prior, also for a club-record fee, could fit in the same starting XI.

Find the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here – The 2018 Review

In the modern game, two-striker systems are increasingly rare, especially among the top teams. It is about control of the midfield through extended periods of possession and high pressing off the ball, and, for that to be executed well, a third central midfielder is required. And the trend has been to sacrifice one of the centre-forwards to accommodate that extra midfielder. How do Aubameyang and Lacazette fit? It is a fair question to ask.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

In Saturday’s dreadful 1-0 loss to West Ham United, Lacazette and Aubameyang both started, essentially in a front two, but with Aubameyang erred to the right side ever so slightly. That was not the problem. The problem was Unai Emery’s decision to play with a back three, meaning that he had both two strikers and three centre-backs on the pitch. I am sure you can do the maths. That doesn’t leave much for the midfield.

And so it proved. Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi started in central midfield, up against the trio of Samir Nasri, Mark Noble and Declan Rice. Inevitably, it did not end well. Arsenal could not move the ball forward through the phases of play at all, they were pressed high up the pitch and were unable to circumnavigate it or play through it, and West Ham frequently engineered opportunities to drive at the exposed back three, particularly focusing on the wide channels in behind the two wing-backs.

The whole system that Emery played was completely unbalanced. The right flank was undermanned because Aubameyang wasn’t really playing right wing, and neither was he really playing centre-forward. The central midfield was a travesty, not only because both Guendouzi and Xhaka were awful but because they were completely outnumbered. The only joy Arsenal did have was down the left flank because both Sead Kolasinac and Alex Iwobi could double up on Pablo Zabaleta.

The lesson is quite plain: two strikers and a back three does not work. The only way that it might work would have been to play Iwobi as a third central midfielder, push Aubameyang alongside Lacazette, onto the shoulder of the West Ham defence, and accept the two-on-one that you will have to deal with on either flank. Obviously, Emery did not want to do that.

And all this comes back to the initial problem: Is it possible to play both Aubameyang and Lacazette in the same team? I still believe that it is. Emery has made it work before and he can make it work again. But he cannot combine a back-three-based shape with two centre-forwards. The numbers simply do not add up.

With a back four, and three central midfielders, Emery would be able to get away with the unbalanced front three that he fielded against West Ham. But not with a back three. And Saturday proved it emphatically.