In one of the most intriguing tactical battles since the start of the 2020/21 campaign, Arsenal hosted Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in this EFL Cup quarter-final. Both teams struggled to score goals this season, but the game was not a boring one. Instead, it was a five-goal thriller, ending with a 4-1 victory for the guests.
In the previous three clashes between Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, we saw their tactics counter each other. How about this one? What are the details and how they made the differences? This tactical analysis will reveal them all to show how the Citizens won the game.
Line-ups
Arsenal reverted to a back three after the approach of playing with four defenders did not succeed in the Premier League recently. There were some rotations in this midweek cup tie, as goalkeeper Bernd Leno was replaced by Rúnar Rúnarsson. Players who did not have a lot of playing time in the first team this season, including Joe Willock, Gabriel Martinelli, and Sead Kolašinac all started. However, we noted the Gunners shifted to a back four quickly to solve the structural issues.
Pep played a strong team but rested Kevin De Bruyne and Benjamin Mendy. Nathan Aké was unfit, so Rúben Dias started with Aymeric Laporte again. Oleksandr Zinchenko also had his chance to play at the left-back position. The fluid front players should not be constrained by positions, so a 4-4-2 was just an inaccurate formation on paper. City were a lot more than that.
