Arsenal Vs Leicester City: Counter-attack, here we go again

Arsenal face Leicester City at Sunday lunchtime. They will once again have to deal with an excellent counter-attacking team, and that is very troubling.

For many years now, Arsenal have struggled to defend the counter-attack. Because of their desire to dominate possession and push defensive players high up the pitch, they would often expose the centre-halves who would have acres of space to cover. Inevitably, they lacked the speed to do so and were routinely exploited, not that that is their fault.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Pragmatism, clean sheets, and Unai Emery

When Unai Emery opened his first season at the helm, succeeding the notoriously attacking Arsene Wenger, a lot of his focus centred on applying ‘balance’ to the team. That was his key term, a vulnerability that he had recognised from the previous regime and rightly believe needed solving.

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Fast forward almost a full season, and while there have been some improvements in this area, it would still be fair to argue that the biggest defensive weakness of Emery’s Arsenal is still in defending the counter-attack, especially from turnovers when they are pressed high up the pitch. The team is unstructured in transitions, with the full-backs getting caught out and the midfield unable to cover, and it leads to compromising situations.

Wolves were able to exploit this weakness on Wednesday night. Twice two driving, direct dribbles from turnovers in possession caught their visitors out, the first time leading to Reuben Neves’ freekick, the second time being Diogo Jota’s excellent game-ending goal to put his side 3-0 up. Defending the counter-attack, obviously, has not been solved. And on Sunday, Emery must set his team up to face one of the best counter-attacking teams in the country, Leicester City.

Jamie Vardy is the big name, a ruthless finisher and terrifying quick centre-forward who is as willing and intelligent as any at making runs in behind the opposing defence. But the whole Leicester set-up is designed around the counter-attack.

They have excellent supply lines from James Maddison, who is blossoming in a creative midfield role; they have an industrious central midfield that are happy to relinquish possession and wait for the opportunity to force turnovers, make ball recoveries and instigate attacks with direct, long passes; they have a stable defensive unit and goalkeeper, all of which are adept at playing accurate, controlled clearances.

If there was a middling Premier League team that you would build to beat Arsenal, it would look something very much like this Leicester team. Not coincidentally, they are assembled in a very comparable manner to Wolves and Crystal Palace, the two victors over the Gunners in the past week.

Emery has extolled the virtue of balance. He is aware of the counter-attacking problem that his team has suffered from. And now they will be tested by the best in the business. If they harbour any hopes of a victory, they must deal with it far more adeptly than they did just three days ago.