Dynamism and fluidity

Mikel Arteta returned to Arsenal at the last sprint of the civil year of 2019, at a time where the club needed new blood and a rebuild was in order. To achieve this, Mikel had to face the challenge that his predecessor could not overcome: walk in Arsene Wenger’s shoes.

Slowly but steadily, Arteta has not only rebuilt Arsenal but established the club as one of the best in the world, having world class players all around the field and being on of the most electrifying and exciting teams tactically.

However, Arsenal has come short in their quest for major silverware, having only won the Community Shield twice and the FA Cup once since Arteta became head coach. For a team this imposing, it’s not enough and surely doesn’t fulfill the gunners hopes and dreams.

So.. what’s stopping Arsenal from Premier League and Champions League gold?

Arsenal are elite in key tactical moments, which helps them be in control of the majority of their matches. Taking a look at a standard out-of-possession phase, note that Arsenal often defend in a 4-4-2 shape with Ødegaard joining Havertz up front.

Ødegaard is one of the best thinkers of the game both with and without ball, so it comes with no surprise that he orchestrates the team while pressing. In this specific scenario that we just saw, Arsenal are defending in a low/mid block- which they have been comfortable to do all around this season specially (even though it had a specific context, take Manchester City’s game this season as an example); however, Arsenal likes to press high. Usually, Arsenal press in a 4-4-2 shape, when Havertz and Ødegaard jump to press the center backs, their midfield (Declan Rice, mostly) supports the press by jumping on the unmarked man that stays behind the forwards (usually, the opponent’s #6) and their center backs (Gabriel, mostly) jump and cover Declan Rice. Arsenal likes to trap their opponents wide and press them hard in that instance, as it can be seen on these frames from the most recent North London Derby. Ødegaard didn’t join Havertz in the press because Tottenham were building with a double pivot, however, the dynamics spoken above were the same.

Note how Arsenal forces Tottenham to go wide. In the second frame, we can see that as soon as Tottenham’s left back received the ball, Partey was ready to press his man high on the pitch- the following frame, we can see all Arsenal team quickly pressing on a man-to-man shape as soon as the opponent winger received the ball.

In this match, at some point, Tottenham stopped building in a double-pivot shape, so Arsenal switched back to a 4-4-2 pressing shape. This type of automatism is proof for not only the players intelligence to read the moment of the game (Ødegaard) but for how dynamic and fluid Arsenal are.

In the build-up, Arsenal usually plays 4-2-4 from the goal kick, as happened in the following frame. The Gunners can play it short and play it from the back, but they can play it long when they have to.

Here, Newcastle sets up a good press, not allowing Arsenal to play it short, so Gabriel will play one pass short to Raya, inviting Newcastle’s press and then kicking it long. Arsenal are confident enough to do this due to one man who is not only a pressing machine but a duel freak too: Kai Havertz. The point of a long kick like this is to aim for your target man so he can control down the ball and play from there- Arsenal doesn’t have a typical target forward and Havertz does not have the typical target forward physique; however, he is extremely aggressive on the duels, both on the ground and aerial, which is key for Arsenal in this moments.

With the ball, Arsenal can be found playing in a 3-2-5 shape, and here is when things get really dynamic. All over the field, there are a lot of inversions and rotations, making Arsenal harder to press as they move up on the field.

The frame above is a good example of Arsenal’s 3-2-5 and their dynamics as well. On the back, Timber inverted to join the center backs in the build up, although the other full-back, Lewis-Skelly, inverted into the midfield, joining Partey. Also, note how Havertz, the #9, drifted wide and is Trossard playing the role up top.

On this frame, from a different match, is Lewis-Skelly who inverts into the backline and the movements on the higher line are fluid as well, note how Martinelli is lingering behind Havertz, looking to receive the ball between the opposition’s lines, while Rice is making his way into his build-up position (which sometimes can be wider, others can be central too) as Arsenal recycled.

The attacking shape is consistent, the people who will occupy the positions are not.

So, Arsenal are extremely competent and elite on all moments of the game and have world class quality to be this fluid and dynamic in all phases. Again, why haven’t they won the most important trophies?

It comes down to unstoppability.

Arsenal play chess toe to toe with the best in the world, but there's a piece missing for the checkmate.

One final move.

One big move.

One transfer window.

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The matches analyzed in the writing of this article:

Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham 15/1/2025

Arsenal 0-2 Newcastle 7/1/2025

Sources:

Transfermarkt

EBL