Arsenal vs Chelsea Tactical Preview:

- Strengths: why Arsenal must not be underestimated at any cost
- Weaknesses and how to exploit them

Disclaimer: All footage used is for educational purposes only. Copyrights belong to the Premier League and Hotstar.

Contrary to what the formbook, AFTV meltdowns and FT memelords will have you believe, Arsenal are a good side. The scale of Arsenal's internal rot would have made any manager taking the job look like an incompetent fool. Arteta's willingness to brave it alone deserves respect.

Arsenal tinker with 3-4-3 / 4-2-3-1. They'll likely play a 3-4-3 (win vs United) which helps them paper over their defensive frailties.
Leno, Tierney, Gabriel, Holding, Saka, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Ceballos, Aubameyang, Pepe, Martinelli
(Lacazette/Willian possible)

The key is their width; Arsenal love using flanks to threaten: Saka, Pepe, Martinelli, Willian and Aubameyang (drifts left.) Tierney, Bellerin/Maitland Niles arrive from deep to cross. They tend to build/attack primarily from the left, which could see Azpi play deeper tomorrow.

Their 3-4-3 is a threat from the left mainly because the LCB (Tierney) is allowed the license to roam bomb ahead, to utilize his excellent crossing abilities. Here you can see Saka dropping to make it a 3 at the back, and Willian dropping deeper to make space for Tierney.

This positioning is easily reversed; here Tierney stays back and Saka makes a run between FB and CB. The ball from Tierney is excellent, and we have to be very mindful these runs. Aubameyang is supremely quick and deadly when getting on these passes into the left channel.

It isn't just the LCB; Luiz's ball-playing abilities are also excellent and Arteta encourages both his CBs to step out (in man-to-man marking no one in midfield is assigned to mark a CB.) Watch El-Neny drop to CB. We have to prevent this (note Luiz spreads it to the left flank)

Luiz of course, doesn't need to step into midfield to showcase his passing range. He is quite superb at picking out runners on either flank, and Emerson, known for his occasional lapse in concentration, has to be careful that Pepe doesn't ghost in behind him.

Here's there third CB, Holding, playing a long ball in behind for Pepe vs Southampton. Arteta will target our left flank, allowing their RW (Pepe/Willian) to catch out Emerson. Emerson is sound 1v1, but his positioning is his biggest flaw and could offer Arsenal their best way in

Irrespective of whether they play 4 atb or 3, Arsenal will always look to get Tierney into crossing positions. A major reason Arsenal have struggled is Auba's alarming form and subsequent injury; you can see here, without him attacking the box, their attack is severely blunted.

Again, Tierney is played in twice by Willian (don't let the memes fool you, he has been one of Arsenal's best players in their horrible run.) In the last vid, Tierney whipped one in, here he cuts back for Saka in the box. Tierney's crossing has to be shut down, one way or another

The right flank isn't bad either, blessed with excellent pace of Joe Willock, Pepe, Maitland-Niles etc. All their build up play is targeted towards feeding the CF. In a 4-2-3-1, Lacazette has been playing #10 to add an extra penalty box threat, but his form has been woeful.

This perfectly highlights the threat they pose from both flanks. Everton were lucky to escape with 3 points here, with Arsenal coming very very close in quick succession in the 95th minute. Negating this wide threat and forcing Tierney on the backfoot will be key.

Pace is available in abundance, and we have to be careful on counter attacks (like vs Wolves.) Although Arsenal have scored no goals from counter attacks, you can see here when the ball comes to Auba, Southampton are caught out and Saka, Pepe, Nketiah are all charging forward.

What are their weaknesses? The midfield pairing of Ceballos-Elneny can be targeted. Ceballos joins the attack as an 8, either as a central passing option, or wide, when Pepe comes inside. Elneny takes a central position to break counters or spread play.

However, this leaves their midfield like very high, and allows teams to hit them on the break. Here Pepe passes to Ceballos, who passes and moves outside on the wing. However when the ball is lost, the whole of Arsenal's attack + WBs + Ceballos are taken out. Everton miss a 3v3.

If they're playing a back 3, when Ceballos attacks, Gabriel steps up into midfield to make it a back 4. This is the best time to hurt Arsenal. Here, Southampton wait for Arsenal's attack to press, and bypass it. Gabriel misses his interception; and it proves fatal.

Another glaring error is their wayward pressing. While most teams press with 1 or 2 forwards, Arsenal press recklessly with numbers in a very haphazard manner. You can see 5 Arsenal players chasing Everton down, while no one is marking Davies in space, allowing him a free run.

This is at 0-0, and yet Arsenal press with half their outfield without putting Southampton under any real pressure. They play out easily, relieving pressure with a long ball to Che Adams, who easily wins a free kick in a good position vs Rob Holding (more on him later)

For a high press to be successful, a team has to press as a unit; clearly Arsenal are lacking the coordination to execute it as of now. To take advantage of it, we have to ensure that our passing is quick and into space; Pulisic, Werner, Kai and CHO should be looking to use this.

Captain Rob Holding is the one we should be targeting in every way possible. On the ball he is decent, and off it he is a liability. Everton knew this, and Calvert-Lewin regularly stood near him when Pickford launched the ball. Holding only won 1/5 of his aerial duels that night

Here is Calvert Lewin again on Holding. He doesn't even contest the duel here, just pressurizes Holding into taking a bad position, which makes him miss the ball altogether. Arsenal's aerial duel winning ability in general is poor (45.2% win rate- 17th in the league.)

Richarlison this time, and Holding doesn't display any fight at all in trying to win the ball. Richarlison doesn't even jump to bring it under control, and recycles possession with ease. No matter who plays up front (Giroud/Tammy) going up against Holding for a long ball is wise.

His lack of aggression and pace directly affect his defensive positioning. Remember Calvert-Lewin is playing against 3 CBs. But when the cross comes in, DCL targets a run in front of Holding, who takes too much time not just to act, but also react to DCL's run.

After having analysed 3 games closely, I believe Arsenal react strongly to going down. Vs Everton and Southampton they went down and fought back to dominate the next spell. We must be ruthless; even with 1-0 up, Arsenal will fight back. We have to score quick and kill them off.

To sum up:
- Arsenal will likely go 3-4-3 and cause us problems on the flank. Tierney's crossing is key and we have to keep him honest.
- prevent Luiz from stepping into midfield.
- exploit Ceballos' tendency to go high; when Gabriel steps up, try to drag him as high as possible

- Holding needs to be isolated in every aspect. Crosses need to be aimed at his zone; our CF should ideally engage in aerial duels with him as much as possible.
- Exploit wayward pressing by inviting pressure and playing through their lines.
- Tend to be stronger in the 2nd half.

- Azpi might have to stay deeper to avoid a triple threat from Tierney/Saka/Auba. Pulisic/Kante/Kova have to help out.
- Not a bad idea to start Giroud considering we play 48 hrs later. Havertz also a good option, considering he will cause issues with his passing/movement, pace.

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