Arsenal – Everton: Door Broken Down But No Title In Sight (2-1)
Breaking down an immensely compact low block is not fun at the best of times. Sean Dyche brought his organized team to Arsenal, who needed three points to have a chance at the ultimate celebration. Pep denied them of that right once more, but Arsenal can be encouraged by the foundations they have built.
Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.
Destiny was out of Arsenal’s hands on the final day, but if they were to celebrate as Champions, they had to finish their job first.
The fact that Mikel Arteta’s team have still got to this stage, after a 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa, is a testament to the team’s improvement from last year. Chelsea, Tottenham and Man United are significant hurdles to clear and Arsenal have showcased why they, and Manchester City, are the two teams with the least flaws this season.
Their final hurdle, Everton. Although Goodison Park is a hurdle they have often stumbled at (they cleared it this season), Everton’s record away to Arsenal is a different story; just one win in twenty-eight games. The good news for Everton is that Sean Dyche has already kept them in the league, the bad news is huge dysfunctions off the field will threaten Everton’s safety for years to come. Nevertheless, the Premier League title will be decided by who can bring the meanest low block: Dyche or David Moyes?
The big news from the Arsenal camp was that Bukayo Saka was not in the Arsenal squad. He was withdrawn from the last game against Manchester United after suffering a knock. Gabriel Martinelli came in as a result, whilst Jurriën Timber was back on the bench, the first time he has been involved since the opening day of the season.
Everton have won five out of their last seven games, and from their 1-0 win at home to Sheffield United, they kept the same team. Vitaliy Mykolenko was the only notable omission, veteran fullbacks Seamus Coleman and Ashley Young, who where both offered new contracts in the week, both started.
Ødegaard incision sets the tone
The script for this game ran as expected, but whilst Arsenal were trying to break into the Dyche lock box, Phil Foden had already driven City into an early lead. Nevertheless, there were two stages to Everton’s approach out of possession.
First was the medium-to-low block, a 4-5-1 formation in which the midfield line was flat and pressure was very passive. This blocked off direct routes to the forwards that could increase the speed of the attack, but Everton retreating saw the next stage of the approach come to light. Once Everton where in the low block, a center-midfielder stepped very aggressively towards the channel and his position was filled in by the more advanced teammate dropping back, a role responsible for Abdoulaye Doucouré. This move is to encourage u-shaped circulation, but Martin Ødegaard hugging the touchline, driving the ball inward and sliding the ball behind Amadou Onana created some access.
2nd minute: Ball from Ødegaard which put Arsenal in the box. Rotation from Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli took Jarrad Branthwaite away from the halfspace and with Onana trying to close off the passing angle, there was enough space for Ødegaard to slide the ball into Martinelli’s path. However, Everton was good at swallowing up such space in a quick fashion, Martinelli cut the ball back to Takehiro Tomiyasu but the ball was cleared.
Different positional arrangements between Havertz and Martinelli were crucial in taking Branthwaite away from reacting to the pass through the lines. Martinell’s movement dropping towards Thomas Partey in possession, dragged Branthwaite away from the defensive line and Havertz laterally moved into vacant space. Branthwaite recovered as Ben White curved around Ødegaard, but as the center-back occupied Havertz, it left Martinelli free to take up the area behind Onana.
A few minutes later, the same dynamic happened once more. After Martinelli’s carry, Ødegaard virtually brought the game to a stop as Everton reset in their box, but the Norwegian was still able to thread a ball to Havertz, who ran in Onana’s blind side and Martinelli was positioned next to Branthwaite.
Despite their access, Everton where able to handle the initial cutbacks comfortably and Ødegaard’s vertical balls into the box only got them so far. Crosses towards the back post offered a threat, Tomiyasu was left free on the outside of Coleman six minutes in, but the ball bounced just wide of the far post. Towards the first quarter of the game, it was Leandro Trossard who came even closer, when he connected with Ødegaard’s cross and the ball awkwardly bounced off Coleman and Jordan Pickford saved. The dynamic between Ødegaard and Onana almost happened again, but when Everton’s was in the higher part of their out-of-possession approach. A one-two with White enabled Martinelli to run inside of Young and his nutmeg on Branthwaite put him through, but his low shot was saved.
Everton transitions start to leak through
Despite Arsenal’s early control, they could not keep up the early momentum they sustained. City were 2-0 up by this point and Everton starting to get transitional attacks added to their frustrations. Everton had started the game by targetting longer balls down their right channel for Dominic Calvert-Lewin or Doucouré to lap onto, but Calvert-Lewin started to appear more down the left side, where White was a lot more committed to the attack than Tomiysau sitting in an inverted position, and shorter passing exchanges began to appear.
Everton could also circulate the ball in a few of these phases, thanks to Onana’s ability to keep the ball under pressure and being able to turn past Partey when Arsenal attempted to press. Phases of circulation were not going to pierce through Arsenal lines, but transitioning against their defense would give them direct chances towards the goal.
30th minute: A transitional phase from Everton created a chance for Calvert-Lewin. A pass from Onana put Gueye behind White and Partey was unable to move to the right side as McNeil supported Gueye and Doucouré made a run inside of Tomiyasu.
With White positioned high in the attack, it created space behind him for one of the Everton midfielders to break and Partey was not willing to move into the wider space to shut down the ball carrier. Calvert-Lewin positioned on the left side stopped William Saliba from encountering in this manner as well, and on the half-hour mark, Idrissa Gueye was the midfielder taking the ball into this space. Doucouré and Dwight McNeil changed their movements to support Calvert-Lewin in the attack and Gueye slid Calvert-Lewin past Saliba to make a three-versus-two. The English striker opened up and his bouncing shot hit the near post.
A few minutes later, a possession breakdown between White and Partey saw McNeil carry the ball towards goal once again and brought down by Partey to win Everton a free-kick. Gueye’s attempt took a huge deflection off Declan Rice, which completely miss-footed David Raya and Everton took a surprise lead at the Emirates.
A quick response leads to a quiet spell
But Everton’s lead was short-lived against a team on a mission. Mohammed Kudus had just scored an overhead kick, to give West Ham a goal and respark hopes that City could slip. Adding Rice against the defensive line disrupted Everton’s marking in the center of the box and forced their midfielders to remain a few paces deeper than perhaps initially intended.
As play built down the right side, White poked the ball around Young and Ødegaard was in a position to deliver the cutback himself. Tomiyasu was consistently in the most space compared to the rest of the Arsenal team, with Everton compacting the box and opposite side as much as possible, whilst Tomiyasu constantly sat around the edge of the box. This time, he was the target as the ball funnelled to him and Tomiyasu placed the ball into the corner, beating Pickford.
Into the second period, Arsenal struggled to build the momentum that they had started in the game. Everton’s low block was serving its purpose, creating stale possession which was dominated through Partey and only performing the occasional switch to Trossard, who continued to sit on the outside.
52nd minute: One of Arsenal’s right-sided patterns led to White receiving the ball inside of McNeil and Doucouré. But Everton’s entire defensive line was still in place, with two center-midfielders and James Garner in a compact position to defend the center of the box.
Everton forced Arsenal into the U-shape and Arteta was forced into a change due to Gabriel’s injury, which saw Tomiyasu now as the center-back and Oleksandr Zinchenko performing the inverted fullback role. Additionally, Dyche’s team where still able to transition down the left side, after inward passes were dispossessed and Gueye could move the ball with Doucouré bombing ahead of him. Just after the hour mark, these elements came together Calvert-Lewin moved the ball away from Saliba, dribbling inward and opening a shot up towards the far post, but Raya made an excellent stop.
Bombardment leads to breakthrough
From this point, Arsenal eventually found the gears needed to cause Everton problems. Martinelli launched a cross after stepping inward and Havertz smacked the post with a header, a move which soon sparked Arsenal to control proceedings from that point. Arteta brought on new troops, Emile Smith Rowe and Timber replaced White and Partey, and new roles were taken up as they attacked the low block.
Now Arsenal were in a 2-3-5 formation, with Zinchenko and Timber positioned next to Rice to when inverting. This led to Smith Rowe and Ødegaard attacking the halfspaces and interactions with the wingers enabled them to dribble inside from the outside. Now Arsenal were taking up different positional attacks with Havertz dropping to aid these movements and the hosts nearly broke through when Rice played Trossard in behind, after the Belgian’s blind side run which separated him and Coleman.
71st minute: Buildup to Ødegaard chance. Now Smith Rowe was positioned in the halfspace, which enabled him to rotate situationally with Trossard and Arsenal’s 2-3-5 formation enabling them to recycle through phases quicker. Rice took the ball which encouraged Gueye, Trossard made a curved run behind Coleman and Ødegaard was positioned in the perfect spot for the cutback.
After one shot in twenty minutes of the second period, Arsenal managed thirteen in the last twenty-five. Everton’s transition ability was dead by this point, a few opportunities unable to spark through Youssef Chermiti, who had replaced Calvert-Lewin.
A much more balanced approach sparked more attacking ability from the hosts, Smith Rowe was the next to go close, left free at the back post. Martinelli drove the ball past McNeil and his cross found the young Englishman in space, but his driven shot bounced into the ground and off the top of the crossbar.
It appeared Arsenal weren’t going to find that extra goal, but Young would gift them a big opportunity through a dodgy pass towards James Tarkowski near the center circle. Gabriel Jesus took the ball away and Ødegaard squared the ball to Havertz with Pickford beaten. Arsenal took the lead, and even though City had added a third, they finished the season knowing that they had matched their contenders’ form in the last six games.
Takeaways
Despite playing without pressure, Everton can be encouraged by a good performance at the Emirates, even if they could not derail Arsenal’s momentum late on. The situation off the field is very concerning; under Moshiri, Everton has lost more than half a billion pounds in seven years and has railed up debts of more than a billion. If Everton are able to sail through the storm, Dyche is undoubtedly the best man on the sidelines to guide them through.
Arsenal were unable to stop the City machine, even if that machine had not beaten them throughout the season. However, Arsenal are clearly in a very strong position to compete once again, with strong foundations and plenty of players that can maintain that level for several seasons. They are in a position to invest in their squad and Arteta has already proved he can get them contending for the title once again.
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