Watfords start to this new Premier League season had not been easy. After gaining only one point, an away draw against Newcastle, in the first four games, and being at the bottom of the Premier League, the board of Watford fired Javi Gracia and his staff after more than a year and a half in charge.
As his replacement, they brought another Spaniard, Quique Sanchez Flores, who had a decent 2015-2016 season in charge of the Hornets. Not an easy start for Sanchez, in that in his first game he had to face Unai Emerys Arsenal followed by a visit to current title holders Manchester City.
Meanwhile, Arsenal had a good comeback in their last game, claiming a 2-2 draw against London rivals Tottenham, after being two goals down during the first half of the game. But they accumulated two winless games and needed points to stay close to the leaders.
In this tactical analysis, we will look into the most interesting tactical concepts that arose in a very attractive 2-2 draw between Watford and Arsenal. Although the visitors had a two-goal lead until the second half, Watfords tactics were always stronger than Arsenal, and at the end, they managed to grab a point that gives them hope on the good quality of football they offered.
Lineups
Watford started with a 4-2-3-1 having Gerard Deulofeu and Will Huges as wingers almost next to Andre Gray. With Abdoulaye Doucouré as a box-to-box midfielder and Tom Cleverley as support, the offensive strength of Watford was very damaging for Arsenal’s defence. This was shown in the 31 shots Watford had during the compared to 7 for Arsenal.
Arsenal used a 4-3-1-2 with Dani Ceballos, Granit Xhaka and Mattéo Guendouzi as defensive midfielders with the focus of controlling possession along with Mesut Özil. A plan that didn’t work out as expected leaving the top three players isolated from the rest of the team.
