Arsenal Vs Manchester City: 3 tactical ways Mikel Arteta could set up

2. Two up-front

When Arsenal played the other dominant team in English football at present at the start of the season, then manager Unai Emery set his team up in a 4-4-2 narrow diamond formation with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe through the middle.

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The idea was to isolate Aubameyang and Pepe against the two Liverpool centre-backs when the Reds pushed high up the pitch in possession. Their shared speed and dribbling ability would then help spring counter-attacks, carrying the ball up the pitch to release pressure and causing problems in the final third. If for some better finishing, the plan might have worked.

Arteta is unlikely to change the shape of the team too drastically. He will almost certainly use a 4-2-3-1 or maybe 4-3-3 formation. But as he has proven throughout, he is more than willing to change the individual roles within the team to shift the shape into a different structure. On this occasion, might he take a leaf out of Emery’s book and use a two-striker system.

It could start as a 4-2-3-1, but with Aubameyang coming in from the left and Alexandre Lacazette up-front, Arteta might play Reiss Nelson or Gabriel Martinelli on the right in a deeper role, asking them to do more defensive work, before then shifting the midfield across to the left to cover the space for Aubameyang. At times, it would look like a 4-4-2, with Aubameyang coming inside from the left flank. City are vulnerable in defensive phases and they struggle to deal with fast players in space. Making the most of Aubameyang, and perhaps Pepe too, will be critical.