Premier League finally returns. After Bundesliga being the first league to return, followed by La Liga last week, England’s top-flight competition joined the party with their Project Restart. To be fair, the return started exceptionally. A hugely controversial event at the Villa Park just hours prior marked the return of the most followed football league in the world. As expected, this game between Manchester City and Arsenal even produced more drama than the opening match.
The match was the first encounter between seasoned tactician Pep Guardiola, and his protégé Mikel Arteta, after the latter left The Citizens last year. Despite Arteta’s brilliance to match his mentor, Guardiola proved his worth and experience over the 38-year-old. This tactical analysis will unfold what tactics both teams used in the game.
Lineups
Guardiola set his team up in the usual 4–3–3. Promising centre-back Eric García surprisingly was picked to partner Aymeric Laporte in the heart of City’s defence. In front of them, the trio of Kevin De Bruyne, İlkay Gündoğan, and David Silva started in the home side’s engine room. Upfront, Gabriel Jesus led the attacking line with Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling in both flanks. Names like Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Sergio Agüero, Rodri, and Fernandinho had to start the match from the bench.
Similarly, Arteta picked his usual formation for his team. However, the shape is 4–2–3–1 rather than 4–3–3. New recruitment Kieran Tierney started as the left-back while Héctor Bellerín started in the opposite flank. The Gunners’ frontline was filled with their exciting young guns. The trio of Bukayo Saka, Joe Willock, and Eddie Nketiah was given the license to help talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the forward line. Arsenal’s dugout was filled with players like Dani Ceballos, David Luiz, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson, and Alexandre Lacazette.
Let the chess game begin
The first half of this match felt more like a game of chess as both managers keep reacting to each other’s tactics. Let’s start by the home side aggressive pressing system. Initially, Guardiola instructed his team to play in a high-pressing 4–3–3. The objective was to prevent Arsenal from building their play smoothly from the back.
In the process, G. Jesus aggressively pressed goalkeeper Bernd Leno whenever he had the ball. The Brazilian also tried to close Mattéo Guendouzi with his cover shadow to prevent a forward pass to him. City’s wingers joined the press by closing down centre-backs Shkodran Mustafi and Pablo Marí, which later replaced by Luiz due to an injury.
The pressing system didn’t stop there. Behind G. Jesus, Gündoğan stepped up from his initial position to shut Guendouzi down. Alongside the German midfielder, both De Bruyne and Silva were ready to pounce the full-backs if Leno picks that pass. By doing so, City shut all nearby passing options for Leno. This also forced the goalkeeper to deploy ineffective long balls upfront. Looking at the statistics, none of his 10 long pass attempts found its target.
However, the press had an issue. The next part of the analysis will take a look at how Arteta tried to exploit this.
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