‘A real threat’: Tottenham v Arsenal tactical review

Arsenal kept alive their hopes of a first league title in 20 years with this statement derby win. Leading 3-0 at half-time, the Gunners proved their mettle by surviving Tottenham’s comeback, in contrast to last year’s late-season stumbles. Manchester City could yet render Arsenal’s efforts futile, but Mikel Arteta’s team have not faded as they did 12 months ago.

For Tottenham, defeat left them seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, albeit with two games in hand. They were left to rue an ultimately decisive couple of minutes in the first period. First, a Micky van de Ven equaliser was ruled out by the VAR officials for offside; then Bukayo Saka rounded off a swift Arsenal counter to make it 2-0.

Either side of this period, Arsenal made the home team pay for their vulnerability at set-pieces, establishing the second-earliest 3-0 north London derby lead in the Premier League era. Arteta’s men have now scored 16 goals from corners in the league this season – the most since Tony Pulis’ West Bromwich Albion in 2016/17.

That should have been that, only for David Raya to gift Cristian Romero a goal and give their local rivals hope. The goalkeeper’s dreadful 64th-minute clearance went straight to the high-pressing Spurs defender, and suddenly Tottenham’s tails were up. They were awarded a late penalty, from which Son Heung-min scored his seventh derby goal, but it was too little, too late. Arsenal held on to record consecutive away wins against Tottenham for the first time since September 1988, while keeping their title challenge firmly on track. 

How the managers saw it

“It was about a general understanding of big games, big moments,” said Ange Postecoglou. “We just lacked some focus today, particularly in the first half in those key moments. It’s stuff we’ve got to learn, and sometimes you’ve got to feel the pain of it to learn that lesson properly.”

“We had an issue with the high press, we gave so many simple balls away when our distribution wasn’t good enough,” said Arteta. “The scoreline has an impact, but we looked a real threat as well on the counter. They commit so many players forward, and that forces you to be a bit deeper, but we didn’t really concede much there. Then in the second half, in certain moments, we should have done better with that.”

Below, our UEFA-licensed experts have further highlighted key tactical themes from the game...

Tottenham’s high, narrow full-backs

As Arsenal defended well inside their own half in the opening 45 minutes, Tottenham had to try to break them down. The hosts – operating in their usual 4-2-3-1 – had both full-backs move inside and very high, often in number 10 positions, as the closest support to central forward Son (below). Timo Werner – and later his 31st-minute replacement Brennan Johnson – and Dejan Kulusevski held the width. Meanwhile, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur drifted and roamed between Arsenal’s lines, attempting to connect the two centre-backs with Spurs’ adapted front line of five.

Arsenal’s out of possession 4-4-2 remained narrow, making it difficult for the home side to find their central players. This was especially the case with Pedro Porro and Ben Davies, as narrowed, high full-backs operating just ahead of Arsenal’s back line. Saka and Leandro Trossard were extremely disciplined, with Martin Ødegaard and Kai Havertz as the front line, but defensively positioned very deep. This first-line pairing also covered access into Tottenham’s pivot players (below), forcing them to play around, where Arsenal were able to defend subsequent crosses.

A Romero header did hit the post from a set-piece, but Spurs failed to work attempts on target via their short build-up. The one moment they did go direct and over Arsenal’s block, Porro found Son, who blazed over the bar.

Arsenal’s counters

Arsenal’s 4-4-2 defensive shape converted into a 4-3-3 when they regained and sustained possession. In the first half, though, they were much more direct than usual, looking to play forward early and expose the space in behind Tottenham’s back line.

Arsenal’s right side was the main focus of their attack. As Havertz dropped from his starting number-nine position, they found runs from Saka in particular, as well as Trossard, plus Ødegaard’s narrowed runs from the right inside-channel (below).

Having taken the lead via an own goal from a corner, Arsenal persisted with a low block. With Spurs committing both full-backs high and Arsenal’s wingers defending narrow, the away side were set up to counter directly, via Saka or Trossard, connecting with the withdrawn Ødegaard and Havertz. Saka duly doubled Arsenal’s lead by exploiting space left by left-back Davies (below), before Havertz headed the third before the break from another corner.

Postecoglou’s second-half tweaks

As the second half progressed, Spurs swapped their central roles and rotations. Maddison and Pape Matar Sarr – on for Bentancur – occupied the spaces ahead of Arsenal’s back line for much longer. This forced Arteta’s team to narrow their full-backs more than before, freeing Tottenham’s wingers to receive and drive forward. This meant Porro and Davies were more withdrawn, but still inverted, with less distance to recover back if need be. As a result, they were more able to deal quicker with Saka and Trossard on defensive transitions (below)

Postecoglou turned to his bench again after 64 minutes, bringing on Richarlison for Maddison and Yves Bissouma for Højbjerg. Son moved wide left, Johnson wide right, and Kulusevski became the number 10. Almost instantly, Raya gifted Spurs their first goal.

Boosted by clawing one back, they fed their wingers much earlier, often via Porro and Davies, who were then available for overlapping or underlapping runs. This meant that Son and Johnson could dribble, penetrate and draw out Arsenal’s full-backs, allowing Richarlison to make purposeful runs between a centre-back and full-back (below).

Tottenham’s pressure eventually yielded Son’s goal from the penalty spot. But despite their possession and frequent attacks, Tottenham couldn’t reverse the damage done in the first half. For Arsenal, it was a big three points. How big, we will discover in the coming weeks.

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