Arsenal vs Spurs: September 24, 2023

Arsenal 2 (Romero 26 OG , Saka 54) x Spurs 2 (Son 42, Son 55 )

The points were shared in North London as both sides looked to continue their unbeaten starts to the Premier League season.

Arsenal started the game with some territorial superiority, the majority of the first 30 minutes being played in Spurs' half. However spurs found more joy playing out of Arsenal's press in the last 10 minutes of the first half.

After a quick exchange of goals at the start of the second half, the game settled into a state of equilibrium that neither side could swing in their favor.

Arsenal establish early territorial advantage

Spurs like to start their build up phase in a 2-3 shape with both their fullbacks tucking in to join their 6 (Bissouma), in the midfield line. However spurs do like to get Pedro Porro involved in the build up from an advanced 8 role, this ends up with Sarr occupying the right full back role instead of Porro.

In Spurs last outing, they had a lot of success in their build up phase. Sheffield looked to control Bissouma by sharing the defensive responsibility between their two forwards. Spurs were able to pick them off and advance the ball forward with great regularity throughout the match. Bissouma would often take up positions between the two forwards or slightly behind them, allowing the center backs to find him in the pocket behind the forwards or to find Maddison checking in from higher up the pitch, who then had Bissouma available in that same pocket.

Arsenal's press was very aggressive at the start of this match. Sheffield didn't control the pocket behind their forwards well, but Arsenal looked to take that away from Spurs by pressing Fabio Vieira right onto Bissouma.

Arsenal aren't afraid to go man for man when they press, even if that means center backs following midfielders deep into opposition territory. Just take a look at how high Gabriel is here contributing to Arsenal's press.

This aggressive stance allowed Arsenal to control territory in the early proceedings, demonstrated by Spurs giving possession away repeatedly and failing to find any rhythm. Son only having 10 touches in the first half, and Maddison's lack of early involvement are evidence of how successful Arsenal's press was. Arsenal were able to take the lead in this period of the match but Spurs started to grow in the game as the half wore on.

After 35 minutes spurs started to find success in their build up phase. Naturally more space and possession higher up the pitch followed.

Spurs start to get some traction

There were a few factors that contributed to spurs getting a foothold late in the first half. Vicario started to get involved in Spurs' build up, and having that extra man aided spurs in breaking Arsenal's press, finding repeated success in the final ten minutes of the half and allowing Spurs to find joy higher up the pitch. Maddison started to vacate the inside left channel and roam in order to get involved in the game. Popping up alongside Bissouma or in the inside right channel.

Added to that is the fact that players are only human, pressing with intensity for a full 45 minutes is a tough task, and that certainly contributed to Spurs success.

To add, Spurs have a lot of players who are athletic and strong in duels. They found more success in their duels towards the later stages of the first half and beyond, which allowed Spurs to establish themselves. Winning duels lead to transition opportunities, which ultimately allowed them to avoid Arsenal's set press scheme.

Once Spurs were able to establish territory and possession higher up the field, they were able to put the press on Arsenal, who struggled in their build up for most of the game, and their inability to establish control from deeper areas of the pitch aided Spurs.

Zinchenko, Traditional Left Back

One thing from the game that was rather surprising was how infrequently Zinchenko moved into midfield during this game. As the game wore on, especially into the second half, it felt as if Arsenal didn't really have any established control or rhythm in the game. It was not very noticeable in the first half because Arsenal established their control in the game through their press, but once Spurs started to find joy in beating the press, Arsenal's stuttering build up was exposed.

In the few moments that Zinchenko did get involved from central areas Arsenal did find joy in moving the ball up the field, but it was a rare occurrence in the first 75 minutes of the match. There could be a few reasons as to why Arteta opted for this change in approach. One would suppose that it was due to the personnel that Arsenal had available for the match. With Martinelli fit, Arteta would have left him isolated on the wing with Porro. With Vieira, Jesus and Havertz occupying those spaces Arteta probably had a different idea in mind. There was a moment in the 59th minute when Arsenal won a free kick in their own half, but instead of playing it short and trying to keep the ball as they normally would Raya, upon instruction from Arteta, lumped the ball upfield instead. Perhaps the plan was to keep the ball in Spurs half and just aim to control the game through their press alone.

Arsenal did have more controlled possession and success in their build up play after the 75th minute when Nelson entered the game in place of Jesus. Zinchenko started to occupy his usual central area, and it coincided with Arsenal's most controlled period of the game. This would suggest that Arteta didn't want Jesus wide, but instead wanted him to occupy a more central area, operating as a second forward as opposed to a winger. That meant Zinchenko had to occupy the wide channel in the build up phase.

So in the end a share of the spoils in North London. Lots for Spurs and new manager Postecoglu to be happy about early in his reign. Arsenal are still lacking fluidity at the start of the season, but expect them to improve as players return and summer signings acclimatize to their new surroundings.