Match date: 18 January 2015

Both sides had something of an inconsistent string of performances during the holiday period with Manchester City drawing Burnley and Everton while recording a 3-2 win over Sunderland. During that time, Arsenal dropped points against Liverpool in a 2-2 match and lost to Southampton just over a fortnight ago.

Pellegrini is without Yaya Toure due to his involvement in the African Cup of Nations so Fernando and Fernandinho continued in midfield in a 4-2-3-1 with Kompany and Aguero restored to the starting XI in place of Mangala and Jovetic.

Wenger made two changes to the side that beat Stoke 3-0 in their last fixture with Ramsey in for Rosicky and Hector Bellerin at right back.

Arsenal Defend Deep

Away games against the ‘bigger’ sides in English football have been difficult for Arsenal over the last few years. Arsenal’s attacking intent has led to very open matches which has seen the Gunners conceding a large number of goals to the opposition. Criticism has been heaped on Arsene Wenger because of these sorts of matches and have been seen as the reason why Arsenal have failed to compete for the league title recently.

This season (and a few performances at the back end of last season), however, have seen Wenger and Arsenal approach ‘big’ away games a bit differently. Most notably so far this season was their performance against Liverpool. The Merseyside club were able to dominate possession as Arsenal sat off, defending in a low block. At times, they were still quite open as Coutinho and Lallana were able to receive the ball between the lines and create chances going forward, but against Manchester City, Arsenal were much more compact in a 4-1-4-1. Below, you can see the shape of the team with Cazorla pushed a bit forward to put pressure on Fernando. Notice that there is little space in behind the back four, little space between the midfield and back four, and no easy option for a switch to unbalance the Arsenal defense.

The best and most important part of this low block came from Arsenal’s midfield. The goal seemed to be to cut off the passing lanes into Silva and Aguero. Balls into the wide areas were okay as Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sanchez showed excellent work rate in helping Bellerin and Monreal. The midfield looked to fill the gaps between the members of the back four, especially when the ball was shifted toward Mertesacker’s side as Aguero would have had the beating of the German centre back if a ball was played into the channel. When the ball shifted, the Arsenal midfield shifted to fill the gaps and they were able to read the forward passes from Fernandinho and Fernando and intercept well.

Coquelin on Silva

As mentioned above, one of the most important aspects of the match was preventing Fernando and Fernandinho from being able to play the ball forward into Silva and Aguero. Against Everton last week, Silva was instrumental in City’s attack. He drifted into the little pockets between Besic and Barry and created a number of chances with good, intricate play around the Everton penalty area. For Arsenal to be successful in their low block, they needed to make sure that Silva was able to find these spaces and so Wenger had Coquelin mark Silva throughout the match.

When Silva did get on the ball, he was forced back, with Coquelin on his back, and was unable to turn and play forward passes to Aguero. Manchester CIty lacked the good play around the box that they are known for. There was little space for Silva to get on the ball because of Coquelin marking him and the compactness of Arsenal and so there was little link up play between Silva and Aguero, Navas, and Milner. When Manchester City did get out wide through their combinations, Coquelin always seemed to be in a good position to intercept the cut backs into the Arsenal penalty area.

Arsenal Going Forward, Cazorla

Arsenal’s primary form of attack was through counters. They defended deep, as mentioned above, waited to make an interception or tackle, and then would launch a counter attack through the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sanchez, or Cazorla. Interestingly, neither of Arsenal’s goals came from open play. The first was from a Cazorla penalty conceded by Kompany, who tends to make a telling mistake in big games, and the second was from a Cazorla free kick to the head of Giroud.

Regardless of how the goals were scored, Arsenal were certainly dangerous on counters and a lot of this had to do with Fernando and Fernandinho and the spaces they left in midfield. This was an issue against Everton as well. When Everton won the ball, both Brazilians would either step to the ball carrier, leaving a huge space behind them which allowed Everton to play into, or they would be too slow to get into covering positions. This happened again in this match. Arsenal would win the ball back, Fernando and Fernandinho would step or fail to recover quickly, and there would be gaps behind them.

The brightest part of Arsenal’s attacks was Cazorla. At times there were few options forward with even Giroud behind the ball when Arsenal were defending and so when Arsenal did win the ball back, at times it was the job of the ball carrier to break the Manchester City pressing on the dribble. Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sanchez did it a few times, but Cazorla was the best of the bunch. There were numerous occasions when the Spaniard was able to bypass the pressing of Fernandinho and Fernando, allow Arsenal players to get forward, and then play into the open player.

While Sanchez has taken the spotlight for Arsenal this year, Cazorla’s last few months, which has seen Arsenal being to recover from their poor early season form, have seen him become the best creator Arsenal have. He said recently that he wants to play in this deeper role, in a number 8 position rather than thrown out wide, which is something that Wenger does; he tries to force as many playmakers on the field as he can, with some having to play in wide areas.

Second Half Changes

Being 1-0 down at halftime forced Pellegrini to bring on Jovetic for Milner. This moved Silva’s starting position wide left, which allowed him to have more space to get on the ball and be away from Coquelin, but he was far less dangerous in the wide areas. However, Jovetic and Silva link up very well and Manchester City looked much more dangerous when Silva drifted in and linked up with the Montenegrin.

The link up between the two gave Manchester City a creative spark and they looked more dangerous early on, committing more players forward. Clichy and Zabaleta got forward a bit more and when Manchester City lost the ball they were surrounding the Arsenal ball carrier quicker than in the first half. This left more spaces for Arsenal to attack, however, and the players were tempted forward, making the game very open, which is not what Wenger would have wanted.

Pellegrini brought on Lampard for Fernandinho, giving Manchester City another central player that could link up well. In response to this, and the openness of the game (although Arsenal returned to their compact shape relatively early in the second half), Wenger brought on Rosicky for Oxlade-Chamberlain. A minute later Arsenal got their second goal, Pellegrini put on Dzeko for Navas giving Manchester City a front four of Aguero, Dzeko, Jovetic, and Silva with Lampard and Fernando in support, but all eleven of Arsenal’s players were defending behind the ball at this point and Wenger killed the game by bringing on Gibbs for Sanchez and Flamini for Ramsey.

Conclusion

An excellent performance by Arsenal and a sign of continuation of a more pragmatic approach from Wenger against the bigger sides in the Premier League. Cazorla put in an excellent performance as did Coquelin, who managed Silva very well and forced Pellegrini to shuffle the Spaniard out wide. The win takes Arsenal to just a point off Manchester United in fourth place.

Manchester City failed to create too many clear cut chances and Aguero looked off the pace as did Kompany, with the block off of Monreal for Arsenal’s penalty as a clear example. Manchester City missed Yaya Toure in a match like this. With the opposition defending deep and Silva marked fairly well, the Ivorian’s forward runs could have been a promising outlet for Manchester City as Fernandinho did early on leading Koscielny to foul him.

With Chelsea away as their next fixture, Manchester City will need to put in a much better performance or all the good work they’ve done to close the gap on the London side will be undone.