Rough diamonds: Analysis of Arteta’s Arsenal in the build-up against United

On the last matchday of January 2021, Arsenal faced Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium. After picking up their form against Chelsea, they have played six unbeaten matches in a row, and successfully made it seven in this game. They are the second-best in-form team in the Premier League at the moment. As for Manchester United, they held on to second place in the table, but the loss against Sheffield United in midweek was a huge blow, combined with two more dropped points in this game, which allowed Manchester City to extend their lead at the top of the table, with a game in hand as well.

In this game, particularly in the first half, Mikel Arteta introduced a wide diamond that helped Arsenal to play out from the back. This tactic helped the team to progress the ball from the first to the second phase, bypassing the high press of their opponents, which will be the main theme of this tactical analysis.

Lineups

Arsenal were without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka, while new arrival Martin Ødegaard came on as a substitute. However, they were still able to field quality offensive players, such as Emile Smith-Rowe as the number 10, and Nicolas Pépé and Gabriel Martinelli on the flanks.

Manchester United played their strongest lineup in some respects, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær choosing Edison Cavani over Anthony Martial as the striker. Paul Pogba was moved wider as the left-winger, and Marcus Rashford played as the right-winger.