Mikel Arteta must solve three tactical issues to save Arsenal’s Premier League title bid

BEFORE the start of the 2024/25 Premier League season it was believed that Arsenal and Manchester City would be the teams to beat in a title shootout.

Then the loss of Rodri through injury put Arsenal as firm favourites on paper.

However, the season has unravelled with the Gunners currently sitting outside of the top four and seven points adrift of leaders Liverpool and five behind second-place City.

In a season that many fans would have hoped would finally be their time to end the two-decade title drought at the Emirates, disappointing results so far have seen fans show signs of discontent.

The bombshell exit of Edu has not helped matters, with questions now quietly being raised around Arteta’s long-term recruitment and tactical plans.

Below we take a look at three problems Arteta needs to solve to get Arsenal’s title charge back on track.

Where are all of the ball progressors?

While Man City were significantly weakened by the loss of Rodri this season it is fair to say Arsenal suffered a similar blow when captain Martin Odegaard was ruled out with an ankle injury.

While he is back on the grass and getting closer to a return to full fitness, there is no doubt whatsoever that Arsenal have missed his passing and ball progression from central areas.

Arteta has mainly used a midfield containing Declan Rice and summer signing Mikel Merino in recent weeks.

They are two physically superb midfielders who are perhaps more comfortable behind the ball in areas where they can receive the ball and then circulate possession of the ball.

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Against Newcastle United last season we saw Leandro Trossard then used as a combination of a 10 and a second striker as Arsenal looked to attack in more of a 4-2-4 shape.

Odegaard would typically play as the right-sided 8 in midfield with his ability to come deep to receive the ball, play line breaking passes and find pockets of space in the opposition half to receive the ball was key in helping Arsenal to progress the ball into the final third.

Odegaard is press resistant and capable of outplaying opposition midfielders in 1v1 situations.

However, Arsenal simply do not have another player in their squad, other than the 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri, who has similar qualities.

With Odegaard not being in the Arsenal team, we have seen more and more opposition teams look to sit in a deeper and more compact defensive shape in a mid-block.

This essentially puts the onus on Arsenal to look to break them down and with no real central ball progression Arsenal are struggling to do so.

Opposition teams are happy to force Arsenal to be more direct and over the top or to play wide where they can slide across and press in the wide spaces.

There is a real need for Arsenal to find a way to bring more ball progression and the ability to break teams down.

They are sitting too deep

When Arsenal spent over £100million to secure Rice from West Ham, it was thought they had signed the perfect midfielder for a team that wanted to attack and play on the front foot with a lot of players pushed forward.

By combining Rice with the likes of Gabriel and William Saliba as the two central defenders Arteta had three players with the combination of strength and mobility to play in space in transition.

This essentially means the opposition would struggle to hurt Arsenal even if they were able to launch a counter attack when the ball was turned over.

The expectation was that Arsenal would commit more players into advanced positions as they attacked in order to help them to break opposition teams down.

Instead, Arteta has doubled down on signing physical players who excel in duels; see the addition of Merino in the summer.

While Arsenal are physically imposing and are able to dominate duels both in and out of possession, this does take something away from how creative they can be.

This means that when teams sit in a deeper or even medium block and allow Arsenal to have possession ahead of them then Arsenal can struggle to break them down.

With no midfielders that are completely comfortable pushing forward and into the final third in these situations we are seeing Arsenal rely on playing out quickly out to the wide areas.

This especially happens on the right-side with Bukayo Saka, and opposition teams are ready and waiting to defend against this.

By filling his team with players who are physically dominant there is a sense that Arteta has created a playing squad that are less mobile and versatile.

There is no doubt Rice and Merino give Arsenal a solid base.

But Arsenal could be more aggressive in terms of moving players into advanced attacking positions to with these duel monsters sitting to defend the potential transition.

Teams know that Arsenal will attack down the right

So far this season it has been clear that one of the prevailing narratives surrounding Arsenal has been that Saka is ready to be considered a genuine world class talent.

The England star has been unplayable at times and at the time of writing he has four goals and seven assists in 11 appearances in the Premier League and the Champions League.

Saka has been creating threat and chances for fun and running teams ragged almost on his own.

The problem with this is that teams who are well coached and organised know that Arsenal’s greatest threat will come down the right-hand side of the pitch.

This means that teams are isolating that side of the pitch and cutting off passing lanes that Arsenal could use to get the ball out to Saka.

When they do get the ball to the right we are seeing opposition teams using two or even three players to press and contain Saka on that side.

On the left-side of the attack things do not seem to be working with Gabriel Martinelli acting as a more direct but less effective attacking threat when he takes possession.

In central areas there are also no players who are making runs from deep to support the attack quickly.

This makes it easier for the opposition to then cut off and press the right-side of the attack to limit the threat of Saka.

Arteta needs to find a way to create threat in the attack centrally and from the left in order to unlock Saka and allow him to attack in space where he is deadly.

Conclusion

Arsenal are not out of the title race at this stage, but there are problems to be addressed.

It very much feels as though Arteta has become almost too risk averse with players sitting to prevent the threat on the counter attack as opposed to being free to join the attack.

If Arsenal are to challenge at the top for the whole season then Arteta may have to take the breaks off and allow his team to play in a more aggressive style.

This weekend’s clash against Chelsea will be key to that, and potentially his trust in exciting prospect Nwaneri.