Mikel Arteta had a plan to deal with the dangerous Leeds United players and it worked a treat. Beyond an unfortunate goal from a corner, an area of Arsenal’s game where it has become a rarity to concede, the Gunners kept Jesse Marsch’s side very quiet.
Leeds have been a threatening side in the Premier League but were blunted by Arsenal’s defensive tactics on the whole. However, the North London Derby will be an entirely different prospect.
Takehiro Tomiyasu was given an entirely new role at Arsenal on Sunday. He played at left-back, a position he has experience with elsewhere but not in north London. This was to combat Raphinha with Cedric Soares deployed on the right.
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The Portuguese looked good going forward and played in plenty of dangerous deliveries, however, he looked vulnerable on the counter. Considering Tottenham’s left-winger is arguably the league’s best in Son Heung-min, it is a worry to use Cedric there on Thursday.
The immediate thought process might be to put Tomiyasu therefore back on the right. It was certainly mine in the post-match reaction to the Leeds result.
However, in reflection, I perhaps overlooked one possibility. And it wasn’t regarding resorting to an entire structure change to a back three.
Ben White is expected to be fit for the derby on Thursday. Mikel Arteta confirmed the good news in his post-match press conference.
“I think so, he’s been starting to do a little bit of work now on the pitch and we want everybody available because we know that game is so important,” Arteta said when asked if White would be ready.
White has played on the right on numerous occasions this season. He took to the role away at Chelsea, supported by Rob Holding who has also been impressive in this run of games that he has been called upon.
Holding has shown in multiple FA Cup finals that when the pressure is on, he can be relied on to perform. A valuable trait with so much riding on Thursday’s match.
White therefore could return to right-back to defend against Son with the aid of Holding. Tomiyasu could then remain on the left to mitigate the impact of Dejan Kulusevski and Arteta need not concern himself with throwing the defensively unassured Nuno Tavares.
With the stability given in midfield by Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka, this looks to be a very defensive solid unit. Tactically Arsenal need to be so wary of falling into Antonio Conte’s counterattack trap.
So many times, when making the trip across north London, has Arsenal overcommitted players and then been killed on the break. This time, the pressure is on Spurs to get a win from this game.
With the roles reversed, Arsenal look to counter themselves when Spurs come forward and hope to take the opportunities that come to them. Fail to do so, and suddenly the top-four race will be blown wide open once again.
