How Emery has managed to get the better of Arteta

Adrian Clarke looks at key tactical points and players who can be decisive in Matchweek 2.

Match analysis - Aston Villa v Arsenal

Unai Emery has lost only once in five meetings with Mikel Arteta, and in three of those matches – including the last two – his team shut down Arsenal's goal threat to register a clean sheet.

While it would be hasty to suggest Aston Villa's head coach has the measure of his Basque compatriot, it is clear his style of football has been problematic for the Gunners in each meeting since he left the club in 2019.

On the back of an impressive 2-1 win at West Ham United last weekend, Villa will certainly feel they are good enough to heap even more misery on the title-chasers this Saturday evening.

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0-2

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Targeting Arsenal’s left

Scoring and assisting in both victories against Arsenal last season, the Villa right-winger Leon Bailey feels a match-winner in waiting.

The 27-year-old only featured for a total of 74 minutes across those matches, but on each occasion he made his mark with a major contribution.

With Bailey’s threat in mind, it will be fascinating to see if Arteta selects Oleksandr Zinchenko for Matchweek 2’s standout fixture.

The Ukrainian offers so much quality on the ball, but in a positional and defensive sense he is widely perceived as a weak link.

Zinchenko played in both those defeats to Villa, and on each occasion he struggled to live with the pace and directness of Bailey.

As seen in the screengrabs from last season's corresponding fixture, the Jamaican burst past Zinchenko down the wing before squaring the ball for John McGinn to score the only goal.

Drawn towards Youri Tielemans on his inside, the Arsenal left-back could not recover once the Villa winger was put away down the line.

In their 2-0 triumph at Emirates Stadium, Villa targeted Zinchenko’s side of the pitch with several effective switches of play, especially when he was caught stranded in central midfield.

Bailey slotted home to score unmarked at the far post that day, while Zinchenko was still making his way back into position following a recycled set-piece. In truth, Gabriel Martinelli was more culpable for failing to track the wide man. 

With Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori both available for selection this weekend though, there is a strong argument to suggest Arsenal should revert to a more pragmatic choice for this tricky test.

Having got the better of him before, Bailey would in all likelihood prefer to be marked by Zinchenko.

A lesson to be learned

Crowding Arsenal’s space in central midfield will again be the focus of Emery’s attention.

By deploying a high line, he naturally shrinks the middle third; which is an area where the Gunners are especially strong.

Villa’s head coach will also have learned lessons from both games last season, when that high line was exposed by runners from deep.

Kai Havertz, who played in midfield in those meetings, timed several runs superbly to run through for 1v1s that could easily have led to goals.

This example below, taken from The Coaches' Voice (below), shows striker Leandro Trossard dragging a centre-back wide, to create room for Havertz to surge into between defenders from Martin Odegaard’s pass.

Shackling Odegaard

One of the secrets behind Villa’s brilliant second-half display at Arsenal in April was the way they dropped into a slightly lower, more compact block in the second half.

Emery’s well-drilled side made sure there was precious little space between the lines – and no way through the middle – setting up their shape 20 yards deeper than it had been.

Disciplined midfield duo of Tielemans and McGinn sat on the toes of their back four, and the tactic nullified Arsenal’s threat completely.

Arsenal captain Odegaard, so often the tempo-setter, was unable to find room to pick out incisive passes, and was replaced on 79 minutes.

This successful pass chalkboard comparison highlights how well Odegaard played in the first half before being shut down from half-time onwards.

Even though Villa are at home on Saturday, do not be surprised to see Emery’s men drop into a lower than usual block, in order to repeat this successful tactic.

From that deeper base they will look to play longer passes towards their front men, when launching breakaways.

This of course is how Ollie Watkins grabbed his goal late on in that 2-0 success four months ago.

Key Men: Onana and Tielemans

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal were linked with both Tielemans and Amadou Onana prior to their moves to Villa Park, and this pair together will form a protective barrier in front of their rearguard this weekend.

Both played well at London Stadium last time out, working hard as a double pivot to recover possession.

As you can see below, they turned the ball over on frequent occasions.

Onana and Tielemans will also be helped out by No 10 Morgan Rogers, who dropped back into his own half diligently to make six ball recoveries against the Hammers.

When he tracks back and left-sided McGinn slips infield they have a quartet of midfielders who are all hard-working out of possession.

Whichever way you look at this key encounter, you sense that Emery’s Villa are good enough to make this another really challenging 90 minutes for Arsenal.

For Arteta to claim only his second win against the man he replaced, his Arsenal team will need to perform very well, on and off the ball.

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