Manchester United 1 Arsenal 1: tactical analysis

Manchester United damaged Arsenal’s silverware aspirations for the second time this season by holding the second-placed Gunners in this game. Having knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup in January, this result left Mikel Arteta’s team trailing leaders Liverpool by 15 points – albeit with a game in hand – with 10 games remaining for the North London club. In truth, even a victory here would still have left the visitors requiring an unlikely turn of events to finish top of the Premier League pile this season. Instead – hampered by injuries in attack – they, like United, must focus instead on finishing the season as strongly as possible.

Here, Arsenal bossed the first half, but with Mikel Merino as their nominal number nine, they could not find a way to edge ahead. Instead, a Bruno Fernandes free-kick shortly before the break gave United the lead against the run of play. Arsenal battled back to equalise through Declan Rice in the second half, but needed a wonderful David Raya save to deny Fernandes a late winner.

While Arsenal look secure in the top four, United remain in the bottom half in 14th place. And both teams now turn their attentions to Europe, where Arsenal’s Champions League progress against PSV appears a formality. United, meanwhile, face Real Sociedad at home after a 1-1 draw away. In both cases, European glory remains a possibility of turning domestic disappointment into a silver lining.

How the managers saw it

“We have to have more possession of the ball, more control of the ball, to press a little bit high,” said Ruben Amorim, in response to his team’s use of a low block. “We press sometimes, especially in the goal-kicks and on the free-kicks, near Raya’s goal. We press quite well, but in the future, I want to play a different football, to spend more time attacking with the ball in the last third, than defending in the low block.”

“Today the efficiency we had in the last 20 metres, it wasn’t good enough,” said Arteta, addressing his team’s struggles in attack. “What we did was superb, but at the end, you have to capitalise on that when the team is so dominant and much better than the opposition and today we didn’t.”

Arsenal’s inside-channel combinations

Manchester United defended in a low block from the first whistle, with Arsenal in a 4-3-3 trying to break them down. The visitors dominated both the ball and territory throughout the first half, probing most with their inside-channel combinations. Martin Ødegaard drifted wider, which helped lure out Lenny Yoro, while dropping centre-forward Merino helped to pull Victor Lindelöf out of United’s back line. Rice and Leandro Trossard made runs in an attempt to exploit the resulting space (below), as Arsenal worked frequent shots, albeit from the edge of the penalty area.

As the first-half progressed, Arsenal’s full-backs moved higher as the Gunners reverted to a back line of three. The result was that when Riccardo Calafiori moved high on the left, Trossard could move earlier into the inside channel. And when Matthijs de Ligt was occupied by an Arsenal player slightly deeper than Trossard, the away side found a method of penetrating through the left inside channel of United’s 5-2-3 block (below). But despite regularly progressing to the edge of the penalty area, tame shots from range and inaccurate final balls meant that Arsenal managed only two shots on target in the first half.

Garnacho as the wide outlet

Defending with a low block and a back line of five meant that United resorted to rare and isolated counter-attacks from regains well within their own half. When their wide centre-backs regained possession after jumping into midfield – or supported successful duelling by double pivots Casemiro and Fernandes – they were able to spring counter-attacks. And with Calafiori getting forward more for Arsenal, Garnacho looked to exploit the space on United’s right, as their most effective outlet (below).

In the second half, Garnacho drove United forward after midfield regains from Casemiro and Fernandes. With the narrowed Noussair Mazraoui supporting him, the right-side continued to give United their best attacking moments. Indeed, Garnacho’s 1v1 play against Calafiori – and later Myles Lewis-Skelly – provided a strong base to attack. Underlapping runs from Mazraoui – who defended narrow anyway against Trossard’s inward runs – further isolated Arsenal’s left-back against Garnacho (below).

Despite their lack of possession, United ended up working the same amount of efforts on target as Arsenal. They had a few great opportunities to score a second, but substitute Rasmus Højlund was unable to convert two chances late on.

Arsenal’s crossing

Arsenal delivered more crosses in the second half, especially from the right side, as Ødegaard combined with Ethan Nwaneri and Jurriën Timber from a very wide position (below). Rice joined Merino inside the penalty area as the main targets, but United often defended with 11 players back. This meant Arsenal needed another layer to their build-up prior to entering the penalty area. They lacked overlapping runs around the player on the ball, as well as unattached teammates arriving inside the box as the ball was delivered.

Arteta than added Gabriel Martinelli to Arsenal’s right side after 58 minutes, in place of Nwaneri. The substitute provided more crosses and passes into the penalty area, plus an improved 1v1 threat. But even when he exposed or beat Diogo Dalot, United’s back five had plenty of cover to defend the width of the six-yard box and Arsenal’s static attackers. Martinelli, as with Ødegaard, often lacked the overlapping runs that would drag players out of United’s back line or double pivot cover. As such, Merino and Trossard were unable to provide much threat in the box, despite Martinelli frequently creating dangerous moments (below).

When Arsenal found an equaliser it stemmed from their right-side attacks requiring additional defensive cover from United. In the 74th minute, Timber’s well-timed overlap around Ødegaard pulled United’s players further across. After smart work on the ball, Timber cut the ball back to the oncoming Rice. Rather than stand inside the box and be marked by United’s aerially dominant centre-backs, Rice arrived in the space vacated by United’s midfield (below). From there, he smashed home the equaliser.

But although Arsenal continued to probe, they struggled to further trouble André Onana. Whereas United were denied the three points thanks to Raya’s heroics. Both teams will hope for more fruitful endeavours in their European ties.

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