#4 Arsenal’s poor record against the top 6
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One of Arsenal’s biggest problems over the past five years has been their poor record against fellow top 4 contenders. Arsenal prefer to have chaotic, end-to-end basketball-type games as it masks some of their systemic faults. Much of this is down to a lack of tactical rigour.
It’s not that they don’t do tactics. It’s that it is very lasseiz-faire with the onus on players to figure out solutions. As Tottenham showed at White Hart Lane, Arsenal’s change to a back three was easily figured out by Pocchetino. Teams which place an emphasis on structure and assignment of dedicated roles to players prevail easily against Wenger’s men.
This manifests in Arsenal’s poor record against the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham, Man City and Liverpool – especially away from home. That trend is likely to continue on Saturday evening too. Arsenal’s best hope may lie in keeping the score level at half-time, lure Chelsea into pushing players into attack and hitting them on the counter.
Arsenal need huge chunks of luck if they decide to play the way they normally do.
