A change of style or a one off?

Arsenal stuttered in the week while on Premier League duty. They arrived at Brentford with the opportunity to reinstate their six point advantage, if they won. However, the Bee’s held them to a 1-1 draw. It was disappointing for Mikel Arteta’s men, but they still hold a four point advantage. Thankfully for the North London side, Wigan presented an opportunity to rest some key players. The FA Cup 4th round was the setting, the Emirates was the backdrop and Wigan were the opponents.

First Half

Arsenal began the game commandeering the possession. They exchanged passes and moved the ball around with a bit of zip. Wigan pressed hard and made it difficult to really progress the ball up the pitch. The first real chance fell to Eberechi Eze, he had a shot blocked from the edge of the box. Myles Lewis-Skelly was next up to have an effort. He received the ball from a corner and decided to have a crack, narrowly missing the crossbar. The Gunners eventually found their breakthrough after Eze sent a wonderful through ball to Noni Madueke. Noni was on it very quickly and slid it past the keeper. 1-0. The clock had barely reached 20 minutes and Arsenal were 2-0 up. Eze was at the scene again and provided another through ball of high quality. This time Gabriel Martinelli was the recipient and he was able to smash home his effort. Not even five minutes had passed and a third had struck Wigan’s net. Madueke and Bukayo Saka linked up excellently to bypass the Wigan defence. Saka was taken to the byline, but was able to nudge the ball back into the box. Gabriel Jesus attempted to steer the ball in, but could only knock the ball onto a defender’s head. That defender couldn’t direct the ball anywhere but his own goal. 3-0. Saka was playing with confidence. He felt his performance deserved a goal. Unfortunately, a block denied him during Arsenal’s next attempt. Martinelli also had a shot blocked in the same phase of play. However, a minute later, Arsenal had their fourth. Christian Norgaard spotted Jesus creeping round the back of the Wigan defence and attempted to pick him out. He provided an inch-perfect pass and Jesus brought it down perfectly. The Brazilian then had to steady himself as the Wigan goalkeeper was fast approaching, he was able to dink it over him. Despite the overwhelming dominance of Arsenal, the Latics had a brilliant opportunity of their own. Joe Taylor was fortunate to have the ball deflect into his path, to the point that he only had Kepa Arrizabalaga to beat. The Spaniard stuck out a strong arm and denied Wigan some form of a lifeline. Cristhian Mosquera then tried to restore Arsenal’s attacking momentum with a chance of his own, however, his attempt was saved. The away side then had another opportunity to close the gap, but a long range effort from Raphael Rodrigues was never going to trouble Kepa. With that chance, that ended the first 45 minutes of football.

Second Half

The Gunners started the second half like they’d won the game already, they virtually had. It was much slower, but it didn’t need to be anything more. The North London side didn’t get their first chance, of the half, until the 55th minute. Viktor Gyokeres received a defence splitting pass and smashed his attempt goal-bound, however, a deflection saw it crack off the post. Only a few minutes later Eze had a free kick blocked. The English international was in the mix for Arsenal’s next chance as well, but his shot was smothered by the side-netting. It would take almost 20 minutes for anyone to have another chance. Martinelli tried to increase Arsenal’s advantage, but his header was excellently saved by Sam Tickle. Eze forced another good save from Tickle, moments after. Arsenal’s summer signing seemed desperate to get on the scoresheet, but was denied with two blocks in injury time. Martin Zubimendi effectively had the last kick of the game, his attempt was wild and endangered the crowd more than the Wigan net. That was it, 4-0 Arsenal.

Statistics

The domination from Arsenal is clear in the statistics. The Gunners had 17 shots with 6 on target, this generated an xG of 2.37 with 4 big chances created. Wigan, on the other hand, had just 2 shots with both of them on target. This generated them an xG of 0.36 and 1 big chance created.

Player Ratings

Starting XI

Kepa – 7 – He had two saves to make and one was exceptional. He preserved the clean sheet for the Gunners and that’s all we needed from him.

White – 7 – A really clean performance from him. It’s a shame he was substituted late on, due to injury, but it seems like it’s not serious. He has qualities that Jurrien Timber doesn’t possess and it brought our attack to life. He executed numerous line-breaking passes and the team benefitted from that.

Saliba – 7 – Did what he had to do, nothing more, nothing less. He wasn’t hugely tested, but had a few moments with Joe Taylor that demonstrated the physical gap between the teams.

Mosquera – 8 – I’m always impressed with him and this was no different. He actually provided a goal saving challenge quite early on. Confident on the ball and kept the defence calm even when changes were made.

Lewis-Skelly – 8 – So close to getting that start in midfield, but an injury to Riccardo Calafiori robbed us of that experiment. Having said that, Myles spent a lot of time hovering in the midfield anyway. He was quite comfortable to receive possession and get his head up for a forward pass. He clipped a couple of sweet passes over the top, but didn’t quite come off. The defensive side of his game needs a bit of work though.

Norgaard – 9.5 (MOTM) – Not quite the perfect 10 performance, but it was extremely close. After watching the Brentford game, it was refreshing to watch a player punch balls through the line. I think it changes the dynamic of the team. If you know that a player will make use of your movement between the lines, then you’re going to make that move. Too often it’s safe and so the off-ball movement is safe too. He provided one excellent assist and almost had a few more. A commanding, experienced performance.

Eze – 9 – After that Brentford performance it was a case of how can he respond? By providing two extraordinary assists. His influence around the edge of the box was what made Arsenal tick. He was unlucky not to score, but he’ll be happy with the two assists.

Saka – 8 – A rather experimental role for Saka, due to Calafiori’s injury. He played in the ’10’/right ‘8’ role. It was a stark difference to what we have seen from Saka recently. He was energetic, sharp, strong and dangerous. He was the complete opposite of what we have seen from the players that usually adopt that role. Him, Eze and Madueke were operating on an elevated technical level.

Madueke – 9 – Leading into this one quite nicely. Madueke was excellent. He was the perfect partner for Saka and added so much danger from the wing. He had a couple of forgettable moments, but no performance comes without mistakes, even the best ones. He opened the scoring with an intelligent run and professional finish. He also played a huge role in the third goal.

Jesus – 8 – I normally don’t like it when a striker doesn’t really play striker, but I think the system benefitted from him vacating his zone. It allowed Martinelli and Madueke to come further inside and it’s how they earned their goals. The Brazilian was constantly drifting from the right to the left and it created overloads. He grabbed his goal, which was excellently taken, and should’ve had a second.

Martinelli – 8 – The Brazilian is just racking up his goals/assists contributions this season and it’s looking healthy. He has another to add to his collection and it was well taken. He was a constant threat on the left and enjoyed drifting more centrally when the space allowed.

Substitutes

Gyokeres – 6 – It was okay, but the level dropped when he came on. We didn’t really need a big, burly striker. In fairness, the game was finished in the first half, so the intensity fell off a cliff. He tried to engineer chances for himself, even striking the post, but couldn’t provide that added bit of danger.

Salmon – 7 – Fantastic for him to receive his home debut, something that he’ll cherish for a lifetime. He didn’t really have much to do though, a couple of nice defensive actions.

Trossard – 7 – As I’ve already stated, the intensity dropped off in the second half. However, Trossard still tried to make things happen. He consistently tried to find Eze on the edge of the box and it turned into a bit of a cheat code late on, just couldn’t find the net this time.

Zubimendi – N/A –

Setford – N/A – Another home debut, but literally had about five minutes on the pitch.

Summary

With all due respect to Wigan, they’re not Premier League standard. They played relatively well, but that 20 minute period killed off any hope of an upset. Still, after the fourth went in, they improved. Arsenal were brilliant in the first half and professional in the second. The system that Arteta deployed seemed right for certain players. Eze, Saka, Jesus and Madueke all benefitted hugely. Will Arteta be comfortable using a lone ‘6’ with two progressive ‘8’s’ ahead of him? I think he should. The level of opponent helped things looked good, but it can easily be transferred due to the technical qualities of the players involved. Having Saka in those central positions will be devastating for any opponent. Wolves away will be a match that will be difficult to break down what’s in front of them and I therefore think we’ll be okay with playing a lone ‘6’. Having two progressive CM’s, with a fluid front three, can break down any low block. With that in mind, here’s how I think we’ll lineup for Wolves.

Arsenal Predicted Lineup

David Raya will return to the net, as expected. White looks like he’ll be okay, in terms of his injury, so I’m hoping that he’ll get the nod again as that’ll give Timber a proper rest. Saliba and Gabriel will return as the centre back partnership. With Calafiori a doubt and Lewis-Skelly playing for 90 minutes against Wigan, Hincapie will likely get the call up. I don’t think Arteta will move away from having Zubimendi and Declan Rice as the midfield options. However, if Odegaard is a doubt then I think Saka might get some minutes behind the striker again. Eze played for 90 against Wigan, so he could end up being a second half option. Madueke will retain his duties on the right wing. Jesus played for 90 minutes, so Gyokeres will likely start in the striker role again. Trossard seems to be our left winger in the Premier League. With Spurs on the horizon, this is a team that has them in mind, but certainly strong enough to grab three points. The only changes will be Saka and White starting instead of Odegaard and Timber. Let’s get it!