Arsenal Analysed: How we frustrated City

Sunday's game at Manchester City served up two polarising halves of football as we were reduced to ten men on the brink of half-time.

Adrian Clarke has watched back the 2-2 draw at Etihad Stadium to explain Mikel Arteta's approach during the match.

stifling the champions

From a tactical perspective it was fascinating to watch how Mikel Arteta problem solved our approach once his team were reduced to ten men.

His decision to bring on Ben White made sense, and we understandably switched to five at the back. However, it was a surprise of sorts to see us line up in a 5-4-0.

Sacrificing a striker meant that we had no ‘out ball’, ensuring we would be pinned inside our own half for virtually the entirety of the second half.

Up against one of the best sides in the world it was a case of needs must from our astute manager, who got that call absolutely spot on.

Without all nine players behind the ball, blocking central areas in unison it is highly unlikely that Manchester City would have taken so long to break us down.

As you can see from this clip (below) our shape morphed into a 6-3-0 for much of the second period, with Gabriel Martinelli (and later Gabriel Jesus) operating as an auxiliary left back.

Our plan was to force the hosts to pass sideways, setting off a chain reaction of red shirts jumping out to apply pressure to the man on the ball.

Our discipline with this ploy was outstanding, and it prevented Pep Guardiola’s side from making progressive forward passes into the box.

Almost everything they did was in front of Arteta’s resolute nine-man wall.

This XG map shows how many of Manchester City’s 33 shots were from outside the area.

Taking it in turns to step out and make sure a light blue shirt had no easy forward pass, or the chance to shoot, was imperative.

As shown in this table, we could not have worked any harder to put pressure on the ball.

A desire to defend

We got off to a shaky start against a City side who produced arguably their best 15 minutes of the season early on to go 1-0 up.

For that opening goal, Riccardo Calafiori got too tight to Savinho, who spun the Italian brilliantly to create space for himself on the inside.

Not expecting Savinho’s turn, Gabriel Maghalaes’ attention was on getting tight to Bernardo Silva, who had pulled wide. Thomas Partey’s movement also took him in the same direction.

With both players moving to their left, a gap suddenly opened up between our centre backs that was well exploited by Erling Haaland.

I was impressed with the way we adjusted and grew into the game from 1-0 down.

As shown below on our first half defensive chalkboard we pressed at the right times, winning possession plenty of times in the middle third.

At that stage, we did not have a low block that invited pressure.

First half defensive chalkboard

The second half required a different kind of effort of course, and the determination every individual showed to protect our 18-yard-box was admirable.

Shaking off physical and mental exhaustion it was amazing to see how determined and organised we were as a collective not to allow Manchester City to play through us.

This rearguard effort (below) was special.

Second half defensive chalkboard

Despite having a man of advantage for almost 55 minutes, the home side did not carve out a single clear-cut opportunity until their dramatic equaliser.

Just five of their 33 chances exceeded 0.1xG, which is a sign of how well we protected our own goal.

brightness in big moments

Arsenal’s tactical mindset is so sharp these days, and it was evident again at the Etihad Stadium.

For our equaliser, credit must go to Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli for identifying an opportunity to play a quick free kick in behind Kyle Walker.

The pass and the run were bright pieces of thinking, that helped us gain valuable territory.

Riccardo Calafiori’s left foot curler was sensational, and in finding the back of the net he became the 20th player to score on his first Premier League start for Arsenal.

It was only the second of those full debut goals to come from outside the box though, following Fábio Vieira against Brentford in September 2022.

In the move leading up to the corner we took the lead from, Declan Rice had hooked a pass wide to Bukayo Saka.

Sensing there was a chance to support Saka on the outside, our star midfielder pushed himself to make a 45-yard run around him to create an overlap (above).

This show of desire from Rice provoked the corner.

From the flag kick we produced a sensational training ground routine that was a carbon copy of a near miss just minutes earlier.

Gabriel escaped Walker’s attention with ease, Martinelli and Saliba ran into the goalkeeper’s domain to pin Ederson onto his line, and thanks to a wondrous Saka delivery our centre back scored for the second game running.

Standing still is not foul play, so this was simply intelligent and well-timed positioning from Saliba and Martinelli.

Ederson should have been more aware of where the space was, when trying to come out for the cross.

partey stepped up

This was comfortably Thomas Partey’s best performance of the season so far.

Right from the word go the Ghanaian was tenacious in his duels, adopting a proactive approach to regaining possession.

His presence screening the back six during a challenging second period was integral to our success, and in possession he was also very calm.

No one made more successful passes for us on Sunday than Partey.

thomas partey v man city		AFC Rank
Accurate passes	25	1st
Passes in final third	8	1st
Possession won	6	1st
Fouls won	3	1st
Tackles	3	Joint 1st
Duels won	7	2nd

Manchester City pressed Arsenal with conviction during a much more even first half at 11v11, and in that game-state Partey made the right option on a consistent basis.

Throughout this contest, which went on for 109 minutes and 15 seconds, Partey did not give the ball away once inside his own half, barring the concession of a throw in.

This was an impressive all-round effort from him.