In the last couple of years, Mikel Arteta has transformed Arsenal into a team that can dominate all phases of play.
If their build-up is aggressively pressed, they will play through their opponent or go direct and try to win the aerial duel or the second ball.
If opponents defend deep against them, they have the individual talent and attacking patterns to break down the meanest defensive units.
And if their attacking pressure wins them corners, well, that’s even better considering Arsenal’s set-piece prowess.
On the flip side, Arsenal are arguably the best out-of-possession team in the world — their high pressing smothers opponents to death, they can defend in a medium block, and their defensive organisation is near-unbreakable when they sit deeper.
In Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League victory against Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal played through Luis Enrique’s side and suffocated them with their press, before defending their penalty box in the second half to seal the win.
Arsenal’s goals came from a Leandro Trossard cross that found Kai Havertz’s run in the penalty area and a Bukayo Saka free kick that curled into the back of the net without touching anyone in the penalty area. Crucially, though, both goals came from finding Trossard in space after the Belgium forward smartly positioned himself to attack the gaps in PSG’s block.
In possession, Trossard and Havertz dropped deeper to support Arsenal’s midfield, while Riccardo Calafiori roamed inside the pitch to help ball progression. But more importantly, the dynamics of the team’s movement created accessible spaces to attack.
Against PSG’s midfield three, Trossard timed his movement to attack the vacated space in the centre of the pitch or drag one of the midfielders out to create a gap for his team-mates to attack.
In this example, Thomas Partey’s pass to Calafiori forces PSG’s right-winger and midfielder, Desire Doue and Warren Zaire-Emery, to move closer to Arsenal’s left-back and Declan Rice. At the same time, Trossard is dropping into the space Zaire-Emery is vacating…
… which allows Calafiori to find the Belgian, with Rice’s forward dash dragging the France midfielder away.
Calafiori’s in-field movement constantly forced Doue to position himself inside the pitch, which vacated the left-back area when Arsenal were starting their attacks. Trossard was aware of that and moved towards that space…
… knowing that he will either drag one of PSG’s midfielders out of position or receive the ball freely because Gabriel Martinelli (out of shot) is pinning the opponent’s right-back higher up the pitch.
Here, Trossard’s movement towards the left-back position drags Vitinha closer to the touchline, which means Calafiori is in acres of space behind PSG’s midfield. In an attempt to find the Italian, David Raya plays a lofted pass to Jurrien Timber…
… who can find Calafiori in space, but the right-back’s pass isn’t played in front of his team-mate, which forces Arsenal to reset the attack.
In another example, Doue is positioned near the centre circle after Calafiori’s movement drags him inside. Again, this vacates the left-back space and Trossard drops into that area with PSG’s right-back, Achraf Hakimi, unable to track his movement because of Martinelli’s threat.
Gabriel then finds Trossard with Doue unsure whether to press Arsenal’s centre-back or the Belgian. Meanwhile, Zaire-Emery moves towards Trossard to defend the ball, which creates space in midfield that Calafiori is perfectly positioned to attack.
Trossard plays the ball to Martinelli…
… who finds Calafiori’s run, before the left-back puts Saka in an isolated one-versus-one situation, but the right-winger’s shot misses the target.
In the build-up to the first goal, Calafiori’s positioning once again moves Doue inside the pitch and Trossard drops towards the vacated space as Partey plays the ball to Gabriel.
On this occasion, Vitinha maintains his position to defend Calafiori, which means Trossard can receive the ball comfortably…
… and dribble past Doue, who is unable to stop him because of the right-winger’s initial position.
By the time Vitinha reacts, Trossard has advanced up the pitch and the Belgium forward cuts inside to find Havertz’s run…
… before the latter heads the ball over Gianluigi Donnarumma to give Arsenal the lead.
On the other side of the pitch, it was mainly Havertz who dropped to support Saka, but Trossard featured there as well. In this example, his movement drags Vitinha towards the touchline…
… which vacates the midfield zone and allows Rice to dart into that space later in the attack.
However, Rice’s pass to Saka is intercepted by Nuno Mendes.
In another example, Havertz is occupying Vitinha, which allows Partey to find Trossard between the lines with PSG’s left-back (out of shot) pinned by Saka higher up the pitch.
Trossard then finds the England winger, who wins a set piece, from which he scores Arsenal’s second goal.
Arsenal’s rotations and passing combinations aren’t particularly novel, but it’s the ability to effectively use them against different setups and shapes that makes them especially impressive.
Additionally, Arsenal have shown that they are capable of using it to build the attack, progress the ball up the pitch or break down the opponent in the final third.
In or out of possession, Arteta has built a side which can control any sort of game.
