Arsenal: 4 tactical triumphs vs Tottenham

Waking up the day after the North London Derby is often a haze, whether you were celebrating victory or trying to block out defeat. On this occasion it was Arsenal glory in this special fixture, and it’s smiles all round.

To a man there were excellent displays across the pitch.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looked like the striker who won the Golden Boot a couple of seasons ago and both centre-halves were commanding and progressive in equal measure.

The new signings have now fully integrated themselves if they hadn’t already, with Takehiro Tomiyasu a boss in defence and Aaron Ramsdale a safe pair of hands in net. Add to that the goals coming from the two Hale End stars who Arsenal are unbelievably lucky to have on their hands and it was a near perfect day.

4 tactical triumphs Mikel Arteta made vs Tottenham as Arsenal secured North London Derby bragging rights with 3-1 Premier League win

Credit goes to many. Not least the manager.

This was a colossal day for Mikel Arteta. A day of reckoning, one that had the potential to turn the Emirates Stadium into a den of despair or an arena of elation. Fortunately it was the latter.

With his full complement of players available he had to get everything right on the day; there was nowhere to hide; no excuses to be made for him. If he couldn’t get his team ready for this fixture and set them up in a manner to secure victory then the supporters still leaning on a fence over his  suitability to the role would have made their stand.

Just as he made clear errors in defeats to Chelsea and Manchester City, this time there was nothing but praise for the Spaniard for how he approached this game. Across the board Arsenal were the better side and four tactical decisions in particular helped the Gunners on their way to three precious Premier League points.

1. Keeping Saka Wider Out on the Right

Knowing Arsenal could overrun Spurs in midfield, as soon as the lines were broken with Martin Odegaard finding clever pockets of space it meant Saka could keep width out right and exploit the positional weaknesses of Sergio Reguilon, who was rarely in the right place.

With Takehiro Tomiyasu maintaining defensive structure as the right sided centre-back in the three-man build up, the lack of a regular overlap meant that Saka could pick up deeper zones where he could make diagonal movements towards Reguilon and Eric Dier.

Nuno Espirito Santo likes to play with a narrow 4-3-3 shape that (tries to) congests central areas, so in keeping Saka wide and rarely drifting any more infield than the half-spaces Arsenal could disrupt Spurs’ entire left flank.

Heung-min Son had no joy on Tomiyasu and Reguilon couldn’t adequately support him with Saka keeping him occupied, which in turn saw central areas open up for Odegaard to flourish. The Spaniard began doubting himself.

The Norwegian was never too far from Saka and the diagonal play through midfield opened up that gap for Saka on numerous occasions: he found that space for the first goal and the third goal came from a textbook situation.

As someone who is so dangerous coming infield, the decision to keep him wide worked a treat.

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2. Understanding the Weak Tottenham Press

watching Sunday’s game could be forgiven for thinking that Jose Mourinho was still in charge of Tottenham. Their approach was negative and as per Santo this time, the press non-existent.

There are many ways to play an effective brand of football without pressing high. It isn’t essential. And Spurs’ plan was to set their usual midfield traps with the front three all trying to screen off passing lanes into Xhaka and Partey. The latter in particular.

How Arsenal countered this was enjoyable to watch.

With Kieran Tierney usually high in the final lane of attack, Arsenal occasionally switched their build-up structure to a 3-2-3-2 shape. With ball-playing centre-backs in Gabriel and White, Xhaka and Partey would squeeze together to open the lanes either side of them. It meant the central defenders had room to make passes as well as switches, as the wide men forced Dele Alli and Tanguy Ndombele to push out to follow. Alli especially was sucked in to Xhaka all throughout the first half.

Odegaard, meanwhile, found all the right spaces and received all the right passes.

Spurs were wonderfully atrocious, of course, but the build-up structure Arsenal had was fluid and interchangeable, making their lives difficult. Knowing White and Gabriel would get time on the ball, the way the midfield moved meant they could break the lines with ease.

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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.

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4. Arteta Got His Team Selection Right

There was some talk that Arteta was placing his job in the hands of Granit Xhaka with his team selection. While his job wasn’t on the line with that decision, plenty of his credibility was.

Fortunately the Swiss didn’t let him down.

In many ways it was the safe option to return to the double pivot with Partey and Xhaka. These two have played together more than any other combination and until new arrivals come into the midfield, the argument for it being the best pairing available is a strong one – even if Sambi offers an entirely different dynamic.

But this is a huge derby match played under extremely sensitive circumstances for both sides and opting for the experienced stability in the centre of the park paid dividends: Partey and Xhaka were solid, progressive and effective.

Crucially, also, was the decision to return Saka out to the right. Taking Nicolas Pepe out of the team, a player who regularly frustrates but does offer goal threat in a side that was lacking, was a big call. Arteta wanted a base to build from with the centre-back and central midfield ‘box’, one that gave the freedom to the forwards to express.

They didn’t disappoint.

In a nutshell:

• Team selection/structure
• Saka high and wide
• Working around Spurs’ mid-block
• Pace and space in transition