Arsenal: Bernd Leno has it right, intensity, intensity, intensity

Bernd Leno was asked to explain Arsenal’s defensive improvement against Everton. He provided exactly the right answer: intensity, intensity, intensity.

For the first time in 15 games, Arsenal kept a clean sheet in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Everton. A defensively solid performance has been a rare occurrence for this team, but many of the best players on the day came in defensive areas.

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Both full-backs were excellent, Calum Chambers was named the Man of the Match, and both Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira were solid in central midfield. All in all, Arsenal surrendered only nine shots, none of which were on target. Only once have they allowed fewer shots, a 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United.

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The performance — and result — is a far cry from what has occurred for much of the year. So what changed? Well, Bernd Leno was asked precisely that this week. This is what he had to say:

"“It was completely different to other games, but you can see only with intensity, with mentality, we didn’t concede a goa <…> “We didn’t let them have any transitions like in the other games. The distances [between our defenders and their attackers] were much closer and I think this is the only way you can play, because the Premier League is too strong to have one, two or three players that don’t defend. This is the only way we can play and we can be successful.”"

The sentiment was echoed by his new head coach. In his pre-match press conference before the Boxing Day trip to Bournemouth, Mikel Arteta was asked whether he saw anything different from his new team:

"“I did. We are much more committed, we have a different kind of aggression every time we lose the ball. I think the body language was much, much better than in the past few games.”"

Leno and Arteta’s assessment of proceedings is accurate. While Everton were extremely poor from an offensive standpoint, lacking pace, intensity and creativity to their play, Arsenal were compact and connected. They pressed well, gave Everton little time on the ball to pick through their defence, and played with an effort and industry that has been lacking for much of the year. It was stark just how different they looked from the weekend prior against Manchester City.

Is it a coincidence that this high-energy performance came with the greatest proportion of young players used, especially in attacking midfield positions? Probably not. Certainly Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli and Reiss Nelson all worked exceptionally hard off the ball, unlike those that have started for much of the season, but it also likely helped that Arteta was sitting in the stands watching on, waiting for the players to impress.

Arsenal defended better against Everton because they played with intensity. They ran, they worked hard, they hounded, they harassed. And it led to the best defensive performance of the season. Arteta will be looking for more of the same.