Arsenal Vs Manchester City: Exposing the obvious weakness

Manchester City have a very obvious weakness: they struggle to defend against counter-attacks. Arsenal would be stupid to not exploit this shortcoming.

Manchester United were brilliant in last weekend’s Manchester derby. Leaning on what their players excelled and looking to exploit a crucial weakness in Manchester City’s seemingly impenetrable system, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side ripped through their rivals with tremendous ferocity.

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Specifically, it was their frightening counter-attacking approach that was so difficult for City to contain. Playing a pacy front three consisting for Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Daniel James, with Jesse Lingard able to carry the ball from midfield and break into advanced areas and instigate attacking moves, United ripped City apart with terrifying ruthlessness.

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Rashford won a penalty with a driving run, which he then stepped up to convert, before James teed up Martial with another break, the Frenchman pulling a lovely finish past Ederson at the near post. The 2-0 half-time was the least United deserved, who routinely seared through City’s vulnerable backline with little protection from a disorganised press in central midfield. It was the perfect gameplan, brilliantly executed, and it delivered United the justified three points.

On Sunday, Arsenal will be the next team to take their crack at the champions. The Gunners play host City short of confidence and form themselves. Just one win in the Premier League in two months, Freddie Ljungberg’s side have not improved all that much since Unai Emery’s firing two weeks ago. And yet, despite City routinely handing their hosts a thumping whenever these two teams meet, United paved the way to hurt Pep Guardiola’s team.

With Aymeric Laporte on the sidelines, Fernandinho often used at centre-half in his stead, and a mess at left-back with Angelino struggling defensively, Oleksandr Zinchenko only just returning from injury and Benjamin Mendy seemingly in the doghouse, this brilliant team is vulnerable in defensive areas, especially when they have to deal with speed attackers in space.

United are the only team to expose this flaw, either. Liverpool and their lightning front three ripped City to shreds earlier in the year, while Adama Traore scored twice in Wolves’ 2-0 win before that, both times bursting in behind the City defence, his speed critical in unpicking the lock with a late brace.

And Arsenal have the players to exploit City in this manner. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is as quick as they come, while Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe are no slouches and have shown ample ability with carrying the ball from deep and dribbling at defenders, especially the latter. Pepe could indeed have a field day against a hapless City left-back situation. If Arsenal can put him in one-on-one situations on a regular basis, you can be sure they will get some joy from it.

You can bet that City will cause plenty of problems. They are a tremendous team, and Arsenal are infamously weak at the back. But United set a precedent for how to beat the Guardiola dominance. Ljungberg and co. would be foolish to not replicate it.