Watford vs Arsenal: 3 tactical areas to exploit for Arteta

2. Quick Switches of Play to Open Space

One of the interesting alterations that Hodgson has made since coming in is compressing the pitch and keeping his team incredibly compact.

The way Watford defend as a unit sees them tighten their gaps to one another and shuffle over side to side, aiming to prevent the team in possession progressing the ball down the flank the ball is on.

They’ve been coached to follow the ball to the side of the pitch it’s on in tandem with one another, and then bust a gut to get over the other side when it moves. The aim of this is that if they do win the ball they can spring into attack with a raking ball forward into the opposing space, a ploy that also invites teams to switch the play themselves and make use of pacey wide players.

Watford’s front three don’t track back to defend deep all the time. They do drop into a 4-5-1 when the opposition are keeping them pinned back, but when they don’t it’s a huge invitation for someone like Partey to switch the play quickly across the pitch and give Bukayo Saka the chance to make direct runs to goal.

This approach requires absolute focus at all times, and as seen with Watford throughout this season they lack both that and the requisite defensive quality to cope with wide attacks.

Using this to Arsenal’s advantage by sucking them and, likely for Sunday, feeding Cedric down the right presents a fine way to hurt the hosts.

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