For all the ways in which we outplayed Manchester United at Old Trafford, there was one thing that ultimately divided the sides on the day: goals.
Simply put, they scored and we didn’t – at least not enough anyway.
Even as they’ve declined as a force in the Premier League, United have retained an irritating ability to garner a result against us. That’s not to say we have been some sort of footballing superpower who should have viewed the fixture with distain, rather we have underperformed what we might consider a fair return in the last five or so years.
While there are plenty of reasons and extenuating circumstances as to why that might have been the case, there remains something of a constant across that time; quite simply, United know how to play us.
Indeed, the genesis of this irritating ability stretches back some way beyond Erik Ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jose Mourinho and co. It was Alex Ferguson who really championed the lightning quick counter attack as means of undoing the best teams under Arsene Wenger and the tactic has stuck.
We’ve seen it repeated time and again over the years and, while not always successful, it has produced notable, painfully notable, wins for the Red Devils. The most recent execution of the plan at Old Trafford earlier this month saw a poor United side walk away with all three points, even as they were outplayed for large chunks of the match.
I say all this simply to highlight something which, I hope, has featured prominently in the conversations between Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff ahead of this weekend’s north London derby.
Antonio Conte is no fool and it will not have escaped his notice that Arsenal’s apparent weakness in this area happens to play right into the hands of his side’s biggest strengths.
Spurs have relied heavily on Harry Kane, Richarlison and Son Hueng-min to bail them out of tight spots this season and the speed of their breaks has been key. I expect that particular facet of their play to be much in evidence again on Saturday.
Arsenal must not allow themselves to be so exposed.
That’s not to say we should approach a derby so filled with caution that we stifle ourselves, but there were lessons to be learned in what transpired at Old Trafford – discretion can indeed be the greater part of valour.
Pleasingly, we will have a near full compliment of players from which to choose, including, if the reports are correct, Thomas Partey, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard. That could be game-changing.
Keeping control of the ball is likely to be crucial in this particular match and those are three players supremely well-suited to that necessity. If we can get all three onto the pitch and firing, we can be confident of a good performance.
As to the result, that will depend on how alive we are to the threats Spurs pose. As I’ve said, we shouldn’t be consumed by them but we mustn’t be naive either. Conte is likely to be perfectly content without control of the ball in this match, we must ensure, therefore, that we maximise every passage of play that we’re in control of it.
Victory would be a huge boon for us ahead of a jam-packed month of football so let’s be sure we start the month in the best way possible. Come on you Gunners!
Blog on You Gunners 