Arsenal: 4 things we want to see vs Manchester City

Arsenal host Manchester City in the Premier League for the first game of 2022, and does anyone really give them any chance of winning?

One can be hopeful based on the performances of Arsenal in recent matches. It’s now five wins on the spin, including four in the Premier League, during which time they’ve scored 19 goals. A very entertaining return.

Improvements in the balance of the team and the way Arsenal press from the front have contributed to the recent mini-run, and Mikel Arteta is probably enjoying what he’s seeing more than at any stage of his tenure.

But it’s Manchester City.

Arsenal vs Manchester City: 4 things we want to see from the Gunners in Saturday’s Premier League clash between Arteta & Guardiola’s sides

No matter how improved the Gunners may be of late, or how confident they are as a team over recent performances, the bottom line is they’re playing the best team in the country, and quite possibly all of Europe.

The reigning champions are on course to repeat their feat as they sit top of the division ahead of Liverpool losing Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah to the Africa Cup of Nations, and they’ll be seeing Saturday’s match as one more step on their path to silverware.

It’s just unavoidable how exceptional they are: no team has conceded fewer goals than them this season and no side can beat their goal tally so far.

Whatever the circumstances may be, this is always a dreadfully tough task. Five successive defeats to the Citizens without scoring a single goal has been the chain of events for Arsenal, so we’re going to have to see something special to end that run.

1. The Same Starting Lineup

Of course, this is dependent on who is available. Covid cases and injuries will impact who the manager can select in his team, but on the basis that he has near enough the same crop who blew away Norwich at Carrow Road, then there is no need to change.

With a right-back crisis hitting the club it will have to be Benjamin White filling in for Takehiro Tomiyasu, and while his strong performance against Norwich shouldn’t be a barometer for how well he’ll perform against City, he is the most suited profile to fill in at right-back.

The standout absentee will be Emile Smith Rowe, who can count himself desperately unfortunate not to be starting matches. Quite literally doing all he possibly can do to be involved, the fact he’s been so lethal off the bench might actually, in some peculiar way, be working against him.

It boils down to consistency and efficiency. What the team has produced with this front four is greater intensity in the high press, movement off the ball, and highly technical interplay. There will come a time where Smith Rowe is brought back into the fold, but for the moment there is no great urgency to change matters.

With the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final not until five days later, the calls for change are reduced even further. This formula is working and is their best going at present. You need your ‘best’ everything to get anything from City.

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2. Cohesion From the Squad Without Arteta

An already daunting task was made more difficult when the news broke of Arteta testing positive for Covid.

Some managers won’t be missed from the sideline to the same degree, whether that’s due to the assistant also being vocal or if, like Arsene Wenger, they let the players manage the situations during the halves.

It’s different with Arteta though. He’s like the 12th man on the sidelines, gesturing to each player on where to stand, where to move, or encouraging them on their own respective languages. It will be strange not to hear ‘allez Laca allez’ bellowed from the dugout.

The players have been working with him for long enough and spent enough training sessions and tactical meetings to understand their vision, but to what degree is his pitch side manner part of that?

Will they sink deep without him gesticulating to push up? Will they tweak aspects of their games of their own accord without having the manager to call them over when there is a stoppage of play?

Admittedly, of all the matches this will be the worst example of how they do respond simply down to the quality of the opposition, but it will nonetheless be fascinating to see how key it is in matches.

Airpod Albert has his work cut out.

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3. Exploiting Man City’s High Line

They will keep you penned in. They will camp in your half. They will shift you about side to side. They will have you following one man and then immediately another. Man City will do Man City things.

Other than taking advantages of set pieces, which Manchester City also happen to be annoyingly brilliant at (they’ve conceded just one set piece goal all season) the route to their goal tends to come from quick transitions back to front that exploit their high line.

Leicester found joy in this way when they went to the Etihad recently. Their first goal after half-time saw the ball fed quick through City’s first lines of press to immediately hand them a numerical advantage. For the second one, it required some lovely footwork from James Maddison but the aim remained getting it out of feet from the back with pace and into the forwards.

Defensive structure is clearly vital in this. Arsenal are more compact out of possession with their 4-4-2 shape as they aim to force the ball wide, thus having people positioned in areas where they can receive the ball quickly is paramount.

Then, of course, you need the transitional runners to stretch and provide options in behind. Martinelli and Saka’s superb pace are dangerous weapons in these moments, but it still requires pin-point accuracy and technical control to navigate through this Man City team before the opportunity even arises where their high line can be exploited.

Oh, and their defenders are very quick. Hope that Oleksandr Zinchenko starts at full-back.

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4. Still be in the Game at Half-Time

Is that too much to ask? Arsenal have been branded as Premier League flat-track bullies this season for the way they’ve started obliterating poor teams and coming heavily unstuck against the so-called ‘bigger’ outfits.

Up until the West Ham win, that was mostly true.

Nobody truly expects Arsenal to win this match purely based on Man City’s quality and the unavoidable results that have littered the Emirates Stadium in recent seasons, so once again, like the trip to Anfield, an improvement in competitiveness is what fans want to see.

Can Arsenal take this game to half-time without City being out of sight? They managed that against Liverpool until it all fell apart, and as badly as it did come tumbling down on Merseyside, Arsenal were not out of the match before that second goal.

Boasting the best home record in the division will provide some additional confidence to the team – even if many supporters might not be in their finest fettle to cheer loudly – and if they can keep themselves in the tie for long enough there is nothing to suggest a positive result can’t be attained.

3-0 at half-time? Preferably not.