Arsenal vs Crystal Palace: 3 mistakes for Arteta to avoid

Arsenal get to watch the Premier League unfold on the weekend as their eighth fixture of the season is held back until Monday night when a certain Patrick Vieira comes to town.

No weekends ruined! How kind of the fixture gods to spare supporters that pain. Although what is worse, the prolonged wait, or that?

Nothing can be done about it now as Crystal Palace head north of the river Thames as part of a run of games that sees Mikel Arteta’s side play at home in four of the five next matches.

With an unbeaten run of five matches in all competitions Arsenal find themselves in much happier circumstances than previously, even if talk of these being superior performances that signal a dramatic change in fortunes needs to be tempered.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace: 3 decisions Mikel Arteta to needs to make for Monday’s Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium

Two 1-0 wins over relegation candidates, a home success over AFC Wimbledon and a 0-0 draw with Brighton are improvements on scoreless defeats, but they’re not exactly awe-inspiring.

Facing a side with just one win from their opening seven matches, albeit playing better than the results suggest, presents a fine opportunity for Arsenal to extend that run and continue climbing closer to towards the upper echelons of the league table.

How the team will look and what approach is taken will be in the manager’s thoughts just as much as the fans. While the team is at a stage where it almost picks itself, there are some nuances of the setup that can be debated: how Arsenal go about their business and what roles certain individuals play.

Looking at how Arteta approaches Monday’s clash, there are three decisions to take.

1. Stop Asking Too Much of Individuals

Play your best players in their best positions and let their finer qualities sing.

This generally relates to the midfield where whichever pair is chosen might be asked to play the de facto left-back role. One of the primary benefits of signing Takehiro Tomiyasu was that Arsenal could be build up in the three-man defence without the need for someone like Granit Xhaka to drop off and aid progression.

Gabriel, Ben White and Tomiyasu can all progress the ball from deep and it’s time we saw a double pivot of midfielders actually acting like midfielders. What it does is ask too much of both in each case as one needs to fill in at left-back and cover Kieran Tierney’s spaces, with the other manning the midfield on his lonesome.

It’s already happened this season with various pairings: Xhaka and Sambi Lokonga, Xhaka and Odegaard, and Partey and Sambi.

If you’re going to play two central midfielders…then play two central midfielders. Give Arsenal more presence and impetus instead of being too reserved.

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2. Play Albert Sambi Lokonga With Thomas Partey in Midfield

Would it be catastrophic if Arteta reverted to the 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 system against Palace with Partey in the pivot and Odegaard sitting deeper? Not at all.

If that were the approach taken with 4-3-3 being used to match up against Palace and allowing for an additional behind-the-lines attacking player in Nicolas Pepe, there would be no complaints.

Except one.

Nobody was especially decent against Brighton but Sambi was far from the worse having been asked to slot in at a left-back very often (see: point 1). With Xhaka out for the long term and the Belgian now being handed a clean run at first team involvement, he should be kept in to continue his development.

The Partey and Sambi partnership needs time to mould just as Sambi needs time to continue adjusting to the division, and home matches against opposition with slow central midfielders is prime feeding ground.

Palace will press high and having two press resistant midfielders in midfield is one way to counteract that approach.

More importantly is that Sambi is considered part of the future of this club and with injuries opening the doors for him there is no better time to give him a run of Premier League games where he can either enlighten Arteta to a Xhaka-less team or confirm that he requires more time developing in other less important fixtures.

Play the talent. Trust the talent.

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3. Press Crystal Palace High and Aggressively

What is missing from this Arsenal team? What is the next step to take that will ultimately see more goals?

Press with initiative.

In fits and spurts Arsenal have looked like a side willing to play a higher line and limit the opposition’s time on the ball. Those moments have been few and far between.

When there are two central midfielders who don’t foray forward as frequently, and a quartet of forward players who are physically able to harass the opposition and play on the front foot, why there hasn’t been more high pressing is peculiar.

Palace pose an inviting proposition to do so as well. With two central defenders who are good on the ball Vieira now adopts a higher line that can be got at. Take advantage of their starting positions and try and break the play open where the creative trio of Saka, Smith Rowe and Odegaard can combine in threatening positions.

Monday is a chance to be braver off the ball with two more sitting central midfielders maintaining shape in front of defence. Get at Andersen and Guehi, force them into errors and break away from the overly structured shackles that weigh the team down.

Be brave.