Premier League 2018/19, Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea: Two things we noticed from an Arsenal perspective

#2 Unai Emery's Tactical Formation

Arsenal FC v Chelsea FC - Premier League

The Spaniard is renowned for his ability to tweak formation and tactics depending on the team he plays, and for large parts of the season, he has proven to be an astute tactician when dealing with the opposition.

Jorginho was not given any breather by the Arsenal players

Rather than the 3-4-1-2 or 3-5-2 formation used by Emery in recent games to give the Gunners some solidity, he reverted to his preferred 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 diamond formation to stop the threat of Chelsea going forward. He used Lucas Torreira on the right-hand side of midfield to give support to Hector Bellerin and Matteo Guendouzi on the left to give support to Sead Kolasinac.

The tactic used by Unai Emery worked perfectly. Chelsea had the likes of Willian, Pedro and Hazard going forward. They are skillful and tricky, and it was obvious before the game that Chelsea's main threat will come from the wide areas.

Lucas Torreira was sent to neurtalize the threat. Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi were instructed to stay on the heels of the likes of Pedro and Willian and it worked perfectly.

Jorginho, who is seen as Chelsea's deep-lying playmaker, who has the ability to tread passes over the top of the opposition defence, was man-marked by Aaron Ramsey and that completely neutralised Chelsea's attacking threat.

The Bosnian, Sead Kolasinac, admitted that this tactic worked in helping the team romp to a 2-0 win. He spoke to Arsenal.com

I think we worked really well as a back four today, but you can’t forget the work of the midfielders who were excellent - Matteo on my side, Lucas and Granit in the middle. They had to run a lot and they did that for the team. That made it easier for us.

This added impetus to the Gunners' solidity and they kept a very rare and impressive clean sheet against a top side in Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea.