Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal: 4 tactical triumphs vs Tottenham

By Ross Kennerley

Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta celebrates on the final whistle in the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium in London on September 26, 2021. - Arsenal won the game 3-1. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Ian KINGTON / IKIMAGES / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta celebrates on the final whistle in the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium in London on September 26, 2021. - Arsenal won the game 3-1. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Ian KINGTON / IKIMAGES / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 26: Bukayo Saka of Arsenal celebrates after scoring their side’s third goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on September 26, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /

3. Hitting Tottenham On Transition

Tottenham’s recovery pace in transition leaves a lot to be desired. It can never be certain, but the way Arsenal set up appeared to hint that Arteta knew Spurs would go with a midfield three of Ndombele, Hojbjerg and Alli.

Alli’s defensive output is only visible on FIFA, Hojbjerg is not the quickest turning and running back to goal while Ndombele doesn’t seem to care all that much.

When the ball was turned over, Arsenal attacked with pace. They pounced on Spurs’ athletic inferiority (and frail mental state/lack of confidence) when running back to goal and caused serious damage.

The aforementioned Saka stayed high and wide with Smith Rowe the crucial cog in every instance, either feeding the one-touch passes or turning on the afterburners immediately when transitioning. Meanwhile, Aubameyang remained very central throughout and stretched the pitch to open those spaces to attack into, which was a crucial component.

Getting the opposition unstructured with clever positioning and then turning on them with overloads in midfield and pace out wide was such an effective tool to use against a side who can’t run back at their own goal. Seeing the electric sprinting from Arsenal’s front four was majestic and the tempo with which they ran at Spurs was key to the first half blitz.

Continued on next page…

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