The London derby is nearly upon us as Arsenal host Chelsea at the Emirates on Saturday.
The Gunners have hit a slump ever since their 3-2 defeat against Southampton in December. Unai Emery’s men have won twice, lost twice and drawn one game since then.
Chelsea have recovered well from their defeat against Leicester City, but are still not convincingly superior to Arsenal. However, The Blues will start as favourites on Saturday, in the crucial derby which could shape the top four.
We take a look at the tactics Unai Emery could turn to, ahead of this big-ticket fixture.
HAZARD LOCKDOWN
Lucas Torreira
The majority of Chelsea’s chances, attacking threat and dribbles will be originating from Eden Hazard. Needless to say, Arsenal’s tactics need to start with how they will deal with the Belgian.
Committing a lot of players to Hazard and locking him down by means of numerical superiority would be playing into Maurizio Sarri’s hands.
Emery could consider deploying Lucas Torreira to man-mark Hazard and ensure that no pass reaches the forward.
Breaking the strong link between Jorginho and Hazard could be key in keeping the Belgian silent. This means that setting up a mid-block and crowding the former Napoli midfielder could work as well.
However, Arsenal must be cautious about paying too much attention to Hazard. That could backfire and slit open their shaky backline.
EXPLOIT THE OPEN SPACE BEHIND ALONSO
Bellerin will be crucial on the right-flank as Arsenal look to punish Marcos Alonso
This might seem like a no-brainer, given how Marcos Alonso loves to push up the field and leave space behind him.
For all his attacking prowess, the Spaniard has been a burden defensively and Arsenal could capitalise on this.
But there is more to it than just Alonso’s positioning. David Luiz shows vulnerability to getting beaten when Alonso is out of position. The Brazilian does not close down the striker and one through ball can do the trick.
This was exactly how Chelsea conceded against Leicester City and Wolves and Arsenal will be looking to exploit this weakness of their rivals and strike when at the opportune moment.
Simply put, punish out-of-position Alonso by playing from the half-space as Luiz goes wide to cover up.