The 2020/21 season has started with a bang across the first two gameweeks with Manchester City and Arsenal showing their firepower early on. While Chelsea won the Community Shield, they stuttered against Manchester United in gameweek 1, however, a team that hasn’t struggled rather looks very comfortable are Arsenal. Their game against West Ham Women on Saturday confirmed their intentions for the season and will give both Manchester City and Chelsea a run for the title. The Gunners demolished West Ham 9-1 in what was a relatively simple victory for the London Club.
This tactical analysis will discuss the tactics used by Joe Montemurro’s side which opened up West Ham and led them to this dominant win.
Team news
Montemurro may not have the stellar, big-name signings of Chelsea or both Manchester clubs, however, his signings have been quite astute and shrewd. He made no changes from the side that beat Reading 6-1 but changed from a 3-4-2-1 to a narrow 4-2-3-1. Two of their new signings were given starts again in Noelle Maritz and Steph Catley who impressed with their outing last week. Vivianne Miedema led the line whilst Kim Little and hattrick hero Jill Roord marshalled in midfield.
Matt Beard opted for one change which was to bring in new loan signing Rachel Daly to lead the line in place of Leanne Kiernan. The Houston Dash striker comes to West Ham after a successful NWSL Challenge Cup which is seen as a massive coup for the London club.
Arsenal’s offensive power
Arsenal were brimming with confidence coming into this game and after showcasing their exhilarating skills last week, they would have been keen to continue their rich vein of form. The new system has enabled Arsenal to achieve an attacking and defensive balance allowing for solidarity at the back and numbers in attack.
The change in formation has given Arsenal’s midfielders more freedom to play their natural attacking game and combat West Ham’s compact midfield five. Though West Ham started with a 4-3-3, the two wide players, Alisha Lehmann and Adriana Leon would drop back and create a solid line of five. Jordan Nobbs and Beth Mead started out wide but were asked to stay narrow to try and take advantage of the half-spaces by playing through balls in this space. The full-backs were tasked with providing width on the overlap. What Montemurro did so well was to be able to get his playmakers and box to box midfielders playing in harmony together through the middle considering Nobbs started at left-wing.
