Martin Odegaard’s injury, Declan Rice’s one-match suspension and Arsenal’s fixture list of visits to Tottenham, Atalanta and Manchester City in the space of a week have left Mikel Arteta’s side in a pragmatic corner of late. Arsenal averaged 35% possession in the three games and showed defensive prowess.
Of the three goals they scored during that period, two were headers from corner kicks by Gabriel and the other was a long-range strike from the left-back. Arsenal had their gloves on their chin and didn’t throw many punches. This was the approach taken out of necessity. Within that framework, it would probably be slightly easier to fill the void created by Martin Odegaard’s absence. Even though the Norwegian works incredibly hard with the ball.
He’s leading the charge from the front for Arsenal, but the Gunners played a little deeper in a tough away game. In many respects we knew very little about the Gunners during this period, but they are elite defensively and have an ‘aura’ when it comes to dominating opponents. They also have a lot of defensive depth.
Despite Tomiyas and Zinchenko nursing injuries, Timber, White, Calafiori, Gabriel and Saliba were all able to play. At the Etihad, even when Timber, Calafiori, Zinchenko and Tomiyasu were not available at the same time, Jakub Kiwior was available as a left-back. He started the same game last season when Arsenal kept a clean sheet.
But Arsenal’s ability to improve – 89 points higher than last season – has always been down to how their attack has improved. At the risk of repeating ourselves ad nauseam, Arsenal failed to score at Porto, Bayern, Manchester City, Newcastle or Aston Villa last season, and only scored from a set-piece at Anfield. Arteta’s side have an outstanding attack, but while their off-ball play is probably the strongest on the planet, no one can make the same argument for their attack.
Now that the nightmare away run is over and Arsenal have three home games in a week against Leicester, PSG and Southampton, questions have emerged about how Arteta will compensate for Odegaard’s absence both offensively and creatively. Over the past week and a half, Arsenal have fallen into a sort of 4411 system where Havertz interacts with either Trossard or Jesus in a 9 and 10 partnership.
Havertz often drifts up front to compete for high balls and then drops back into midfield in attack behind Trossard and Jesus, while the midfielders behind him are more of a double pivot. This approach is unlikely to create a sufficient threat in games where teams are more likely to dominate the ball (this is especially true in the Leicester and Southampton games).
Against City, 21.2% of Arsenal’s passes were long, against Atalanta 12.4% and against Spurs 17.1%. Last season, 11.3% of Arsenal’s passes were long on average, so Arteta’s side have advanced along that baseline in each of their last three games. Again, it’s unlikely that upcoming games will require a more direct approach, and how Odegaard copes with evolving a technical game without a technical expert will be interesting and perhaps a little worrying.
When Odegaard’s absence was first confirmed, I wrote about how important Kai Havertz was (especially when Mikel Merino was also absent). It’s no coincidence that he played all 270 minutes last week. His physical presence as an outlet was vital during a period when Arsenal were more happy to play more compactly and directly. However, his ability to play in a hybrid role between a number 9 and a number 10 has been crucial to the way Arsenal want to play.
Havertz’s more nuanced qualities will now be called upon, and I strongly suspect he will be asked to play in a more traditional midfield role with Gabriel Jesus playing up front. It’s possible he could step into Odegaard’s right-hand eight role. I think there’s definitely value in receiving the ball where his natural body type is towards the inside and central positions.
However, I think it’s likely that Arteta will initially (mostly) revert him to a ‘left eight’ role, with Rice moving to the right. This means Rice can focus on serving Bukayo Saka out wide. But it also means that Arsenal can start to create a nice quadrant down the left flank.
During pre-season, Arsenal performed flawlessly against Leverkusen. Havertz started the game in midfield with Jesus up front and Trossard on the left. Zinchenko played at left-back and there was a very pleasing fluidity between the four players that Leverkusen found difficult to cope with. Trossard, Jesus and Havertz constantly changed positions thanks to Zinchenko’s technical quality.
The addition of Riccardo Calafiori adds another element to the mix with his ability to dribble into the left half-space. The Italian is also in a honeymoon period where his qualities will be a bit unknown to other Premier League teams, just as Zinchenko was in the golden autumn of 2022. Calafiori, Havertz, Jesus and Trossard strike me as the quartet that has the potential to make Arsenal. Formerly a creative junior on Arsenal’s right, he is more fluid on the left flank.
The very 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 to actually pick up some of that slack and form a smaller network for now. It is well known to the other party. There is potential for liquidity there. Even though Martinelli is on the left instead of Trossard, the two Brazilian players share a fluid understanding through position exchange.
This could be a great time for Martinelli and Jesus to re-establish their form and dominance in this Arsenal team, and a very convenient time for Raheem Sterling to make his name at the club in any role. . There is opportunity in crisis. Arsenal need to look lighter and sharper than snarling, so they need to show the determined face they have shown over the last 7-10 days in this block.
