Different Faces

Injury to Martin Odegaard, a one-game suspension for Declan Rice and a fixture list that saw Arsenal travelling to Tottenham, Atalanta and Manchester City in the space of a week forced Mikel Arteta’s side into a pragmatic corner of late. Arsenal averaged 35% possession across those three games and demonstrated their defensive mettle.

Two of the three goals they scored in that period were Gabriel headers from corners, the other was a long distance strike from a left-back. Arsenal kept their gloves up by their chin and didn’t throw many punches- an approach borne out of necessity. Within that framework, it is perhaps slightly easier to bridge the gap left by Martin Odegaard’s absence, even if the Norwegian is incredibly hard working off the ball.

He leads Arsenal’s press from the front but Arsenal played a little deeper in those tough away games. In many respects, we learned little about the Gunners in this period that we didn’t already know, they are defensively elite and have an ‘aura’ when it comes to shutting opponents down. They also have a lot of defensive depth.

Even with Tomiyasu and Zinchenko nursing injuries, which we are well accustomed to by now, Timber, White, Calafiori, Gabriel and Saliba have all been able to start games. Even when Timber, Calafiori, Zinchenko and Tomiyasu were simultaneously unavailable for the dying minutes at the Etihad, Jakub Kiwior was able to come into the fray at left-back. He started the same fixture last season when Arsenal kept a clean sheet.

But Arsenal’s ability to improve on their 89 point tally from last season was always going to rest on how the attack improved. At the risk of repeating myself ad nauseam, Arsenal didn’t score at Porto, Bayern, Manchester City, Newcastle and Aston Villa last season and scored from a setpiece at Anfield. Arteta’s squad has an excellent attack but while their off-ball play is possibly the most formidable on the planet, nobody would quite formulate the same argument about the attack.

Now that nightmarish block of away matches is out of the way, Arsenal have three home games in a week against Leicester, PSG and Southampton and the question as to how Arteta amends for Odegaard’s absence in the attacking and creative sense comes to the fore. Over the last week and a half, Arsenal fell on a sort of 4411 system which involved Havertz interchanging with Trossard or Jesus in 9 and 10 partnership.

Havertz would often drift upfront to contest for high balls and drop back into midfield behind Trossard and Jesus in attack in possession, while the midfielders behind him played in more of a double pivot. That approach is unlikely to generate enough threat in games where the team are more likely to dominate the ball (this is especially true of the Leicester and Southampton games).

Against City, 21.2% of Arsenal’s passes were long, against Atalanta it was 12.4% and against Spurs it was 17.1%. Last season, 11.3% of Arsenal’s passes were long on average, so Arteta’s side advanced on that baseline in each of the last three games. Again, upcoming games are less likely to call on a more direct approach and how they cope with advancing their technical game without their technical prefect in Odegaard is going to be both fascinating and maybe even a little concerning.

When Odegaard’s absence was first established, I wrote a piece about how important Kai Havertz would prove to be (especially with Mikel Merino also absent). It is no coincidence that he played all 270 minutes across last week, his physical presence as an outlet was crucial in a period where Arsenal were happier to be more compact and direct. But his ability to play a hybrid role between a 9 and a 10 was also critical in how Arsenal wanted to play.

Now Havertz’s more subtle qualities are going to be called upon and I strongly suspect he will be asked to play a more traditional midfield role with Gabriel Jesus playing upfront. It could be that he steps directly into Odegaard’s right eight role. I certainly think there would be value in him receiving the ball in positions where his natural body shape will be inwards and towards more central positions.

However, I think it is just as likely that Arteta might reinstate him into the ‘left eight’ role for which he was initially (primarily) bought with Rice moving over to the right. This would mean that Rice could focus on providing service to Bukayo Saka on the flank. But it also means that Arsenal could start to create a nice quadrant on the left side.

During pre-season, Arsenal played consummately against (an admittedly undercooked) Leverkusen. Havertz started that game in midfield with Jesus upfront and Trossard on the left. Zinchenko played at left-back and there was a very pleasing fluidity between those four players that Leverkusen found difficult to cope with, as Trossard, Jesus and Havertz consistently swapped positions, underpinned by the technical quality of Zinchenko.

The addition of Riccardo Calafiori adds another element to the mix with his ability to dribble into that left half-space. The Italian is also in a honeymoon period where his qualities will be slightly unknown to other Premier League teams, much as Zinchenko’s were in that golden autumn of 2022. Calafiori, Havertz, Jesus and Trossard strikes me as a quartet with some potential to make Arsenal a little more fluid on a left side that has previously been a creative junior to Arsenal’s right.

The super established trident of White, Odegaard and Saka on the right will be broken up for the first time in over two years, so it makes sense for the left side to really pick up some of that slack and form some networks that are currently less well known to opponents. There is a potential for fluidity there. Even with Martinelli on the left instead of Trossard, the two Brazilians share a fluid understanding based on interchange of positions.

It could be a good time for Martinelli and Jesus to re-establish their form and primacy in this Arsenal team and it would also be a very handy time for Raheem Sterling to make his name at the club in whichever role(s) he appears in. In crisis, there is opportunity. Because Arsenal are going to have to show a lighter, flightier face than the snarling, determined one they have shown over the last 7-10 days in this upcoming block.

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