Arsenal: 5 tactical improvements needed vs Man City

4. A More Organised Press and Structure

Arsenal were structurally all over the place in their last home outing, which stemmed from the mismanaged press of the front players.

Through a combination of being stand-offish and indecisive, Chelsea were able to play through and around Arsenal like a knife through warmed butter. Taking side routes to simply bypass the likes of Pepe, it then opened up the room for their attackers, notably Kai Havertz, to drop off from the forward line and drag others out of position.

City’s revolving door of penalty box movers aim to do so in equally effective measure. They will drag players out and shift others along to open the smallest of gaps, and even if there aren’t any they still have the quality of players to conjure up a chance out of nothing.

Having not done so against Chelsea it would be a surprise for Arteta to revert to a 3-4-3 system given he has more players available to him. Opting for that shape would help nullify wide areas where City can play in compact areas.

Thus, if it’s the 4-2-3-1, the same mistakes of seeing Xhaka drop into defence to create a back five that leaves Sambi horribly exposed in a barren midfield can’t happen again. Whatever pressing style Arsenal opt for has to be coordinated better in order to limit the need for Xhaka to form that back five when the ball hasn’t yet reached the edge of the penalty box.

Everything needs to be near perfect, really.