By Vinay Shankar (Tactical Analyst)
Another chaotic, mistake-ridden game against the bottom side in the league as a lack of composure seems to be deserting Arsenal at a crucial juncture in the season.
Xhaka’s absence should not have been a big miss for this game on paper but Arsenal suffered quite a bit with the second balls and general control in the first half. One crucial detail that needs to be rectified in the home games is the start from kickoff. This Arsenal side has conceded goals against Bournemouth and Southampton in the first minute as well as a chance for Leeds. This worrying trend could be a result of too much emotion or adrenaline at the start but this immediately impacts the patterns of the game and everything that follows.
Southampton set up with a very narrow front-two of Walcott and Armstrong with Alcaraz just behind to block out any buildup centrally and Partey was overloaded without Xhaka in the central areas. The visitors targeted Zinchenko with long balls and Viera was not comfortable reading and dealing with the second balls from the long passes. It is hard to read too much into the Portuguese international’s display since this is his first start in quite a while but the comfort as the left-sided midfielder is not there yet.
Southampton’s narrow setup meant Martinelli and Saka had a lot of space on the outside against fullbacks and targeted them at every opportunity. The composure from this team after conceding early goals has been incredible this season but the buildup was just generally rushed and this fed into the chaotic nature of the game in general.
The substitution of Alcaraz at half-time switched the visitors to a 5-4-1 and immediately allowed the home side to control the tempo and pin the visitors in the defensive third. A back five meant Saka and Martinelli did not have the same joy as in the first half and the attacking buildup was stifled. The goal from the corner was the big killer blow as Southampton had hardly reached the final third up until that point.
The switch to the 3-5-2 in the search for goals freed up Odegaard to receive the ball in deeper areas and the combination of Jesus and Nketiah kept the centre-backs pinned with their back to goal to prise open the low block.
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