Arsenal’s trip to Fulham provided a great opportunity to perform an admittedly premature analysis of Arteta’s expanding influence at the club. The home side fielded a 4-2-3-1 that proved very compact at the start of the match but proved somewhat susceptible to Arsenal’s counter attacks.

Arsenal appeared to start the match in their preferred 3-4-3 with Aubameyang, Lacazzette, and new signing William featuring in the front three. The midfield was composed of Maitland-Niles and Bellerin flanking Xhaka and Elneney respectively. Tierney, new signing Gabriel, and Holding rounded out the back 3 in front of the returning Leno.

Arsenal struggled to control the match in the early stages. I attribute this to the fact that they were outnumber 2 vs 3 in the center of the park. Around the 6th or 7th minute I noticed that Arsenal’s shape differed significantly with and without the ball. Tierney would drift further out to the left when Arsenal had possession and the defensive line became a slightly skewed back 4. When Arsenal were defending Tierney would tuck back in and the shape would return to a back three.

Not as dynamic down the left

Arteta has been doing something extremely interesting down that left hand side with respect to the positioning of Maitland-Niles and Tierney. During the Community Shield Arsenal were constantly overloading Liverpool’s right back. In and of itself this isn't that interesting. This occurs very frequently in the form of overlapping runs featuring the outside midfielder(or winger) and fullback. What was interesting here was the manner in which it was being executed in terms of personnel.

In Maitland-Nile and Kierney Arsenal, have two players who are comfortable playing anywhere defensively along the left hand side. Consequently they can cover for each other with significant ease. Normally you'd have a holding midfielder shift over to cover. This has one minor drawback. The particular holding midfielder may not be mobile enough to cover the type of shifty, dynamic, and swift opposition players that tend to occupy that part of the pitch. Kierney and Maitland-Niles do not have that issue. With the addition of Aubameyang, Arsenal had 3 players who could take turns chasing the ball down that left channel whereas the same Liverpool player would tire making that run consistently. Kudos to Arteta for this. It reminds me a bit of Sheffield’s overlapping center backs but the execution is a bit more dynamic. It also carries a hint of how Pep likes to have his left back tuck into the midfield.

Back to the present: the tactic did not have as devastating an effect this time around. My initial approach is to fault Arsenal’s inability to control the center of the park thereby limiting there ability to play deep passes into that channel. This explanation is somewhat deficient seeing as they really didn’t boss the midfield in the match against Liverpool(Arsenal only had 40% of possession). The tactic was most likely hindered by the fact that Fulham fielded outside midfielders as opposed to out and out wingers. Fulham's right midfielder Kebano was much more persistent with regards to tracking back and picking up Maitland-Niles. This stands in slight contrast to Liverpool’s Sadio Mane who wasn’t quite as diligent. Regardless Fulham left gaps when attacking and this rendered them particularly susceptible to counter attacks from the wide spaces.

A promising midfield partnership

If you’re a frequent reader of this blog(all 0 of you) you’re most likely aware that Arsenal’s midfield pairing is something I have lamented frequently in the past(for example here). To your complete and utter delight I think I may no longer have reason to do so. I’ve always rated Xhaka and was somewhat flummoxed when transfer rumours indicated he may be heading towards the exit with Hertha Berlin waiting in the wings. Thankfully he stayed and his haters amongst the Arsenal fan base should apologize and return to the woodworks. The Swiss is an integral part of Arsenal’s midfield and team suffers tremendously when he is absent.

Mohamed Elneny was shipped on loan to Besikitas during Unai Emery’s stint as Arsenal manager. I was previously skeptical of his ability on the ball but he seems to have returned as a much more proficient ball carrier. With his performance against Fulham, and Liverpool previously, he is making a great case to be Arteta’s first choice partner for Xhaka in the middle of the park. He provides a little more defensive solidity than Dani Ceballos in exchange for less creativity on the ball. This stands in greater contrast to Lucas Torreira with whom the exchange becomes far too lopsided for my liking.

New signings bedding in nicely

Arsenal’s two new signings Willian and Gabriel looked especially sharp on the day. Willian is a known quality in the premier league and his play was consistent with what we are used to seeing: dynamic and direct runs from outside. His delicate crossfield pass provided the assist for Aubameyang beautifully taken goal. I expect this particular partnership to reap plenty of goals this season.

Gabriel’s debut was much more compelling given Arsenal’s well known problems at center back. Barring a miscommunication with Leno that resulted in a Fulham chance the young defender did not disappoint at all. He slotted seamlessly into the center of Arsenal’s back 3. He is markedly different from his predecessors David Luiz, Sokratis, or Mustafi. He looks to be a 1 v 1 specialist: the breed of defenders that attackers will struggle to beat with any combination of raw pace or trickery. This is important given the frequency with which Arsenal’s backline find themselves exposed and running back towards their own goal. It’s still early days but I predict this was money well spent. I’m looking forward to seeing him play alongside Saliba.

Conclusion

All in all it was a great showing from Arsenal but we should be careful not to draw too much from this seeing as Fulham are the bookies favorite to be relegated. Arsenal were a touch unconvincing when it came to controlling the match but made the most of their opportunities on the counter attack. Over the next month and a half Arsenal will face Liverpool(yet again), Leicester, and the two Manchester clubs. At the end of that run of games we might be able to definitely declare whether the era of Arteta has begun in earnest.

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