Match 1: Crystal Palace 0 - 2 Arsenal

Setting the scene

On Friday 5th August, Arsenal played their opening game of the season. Last season we started the campaign with a disappointing loss to newly promoted Brentford- This season had to start differently. Fortunately, we didn't have the squad issues we had at the start of last campaign and we were able to field a near full strength line up. This is how both teams set up:

Arsenal decided to give three players their debut- Saliba, Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus and they all showed glimpses, at the very least, of what they are capable of. Ben White started as a right back, but as we will see, the back 4 was often a back 3 with White on the right-hand side. Saliba got his debut after multiple loan spells and earned a place in the starting line up, playing alongside Gabriel and White, providing important defensive cover whenever he was needed. Zinchenko took up his left-back role, but due to his tendency to come inside, often played as a central midfielder. Partey operated in the centre of the pitch, moving laterally to help the flow of Arsenal's game. Ødegaard and Xhaka took up positions higher up the pitch in order to exploit the half-spaces, whilst Saka and Martinelli provided width and the ability to cut inside or deliver a cross. Gabriel Jesus who also earned his debut, led the Arsenal line, but often would drop deep to provide additional interplay options or drive at the defensive line from deep.

In practice, Arsenal played in a 3-2-5 formation, which appeared like this:

The back 3 were assigned to each of the Crystal Palace front line, Zinchenko provided a secondary role as a central midfielder but often stayed wide to provide the width when Martinelli cut inside. The 5 highest players up the pitch were all in place to exploit the half-spaces and create numerical advantages over every area of the pitch.

How it played out

Despite Arsenal starting the match strong for the first 15 minutes, Crystal Palace fought back and created difficulty for Arsenal to exploit the half-spaces and stopped Arsenal from being able to play as freely as they would have liked. Overall, Arsenal did not have a firm hold on the game and relied on a set-piece routine with a Martinelli header to put Arsenal in the lead in the 20th minute and an own goal from Marc Guéhi in the 85th minute to solidify the lead. The stats however paint a different story.

Crystal Palace controlled many areas of the game, such as possession and passing accuracy and the xG scoreline of Crystal Palace 1.21 - 1.0 Arsenal (measured by FotMob) shows that Arsenal's game needed some improving. However, it is a sign of a very good team to be able to get a result from these types of performances and it is a stark contrast to how Arsenal have performed in these types of fixtures away from home in the last few years.

In terms of the best xG performers, Gabriel Martinelli had an xG of 0.38 across two attempts on goal where one of them, the header that went in, had an xG of 0.16. Eberechi Eze had the best chance of the game, a one-on-one with Aaron Ramsdale that was saved, had an xG of 0.49.

In terms of passing, Crystal Palace dominated with a passing accuracy of 84% compared to Arsenals 81% as well as 16% more passes in the opposition half than Arsenal, showing that they were able to sustain attacking pressure better than Arsenal. Crystal Palace also had more touches in both the midfield third and attacking third showing that not only did they have the majority of possession, they held this possession in dangerous areas rather than passing it around at the back during build-up play. Part of the positional play style that Mikel Arteta is trying to implement is to make Arsenal more cutthroat and direct, which was achieved with Arsenal having an average completed progressive passing distance of 6.5 metres compared to Crystal Palace's 4.8 metres, but much of this comes from the fact that Arsenal had to counterattack more often in order to relieve pressure. If you take a direct team who dominated this weekend, such as Tottenham in their 4-1 victory over Southampton, they achieved an average completed progressive passing distance of 5.6 metres, somewhere in the middle of Arsenal and Crystal Palace. This implies that Tottenham did not need as many passes to get the ball higher up the pitch, but were also able to make good use of their chances and passing efficiency.

Big chance & Goal Analysis

20th Minute: Crystal Palace 0 - 1 Arsenal (Martinelli Goal)

Snapshot 1:

In this set-piece routine, Arsenal players crowd the goalkeeper to create a chaotic situation, making it difficult for the goalkeeper to see and get to the ball in his 6-yard box. Zinchenko starts on the edge of the area, in a rather innocuous position, but with a lot of space around the back post for him to run into. Zaha (circled) does not pay attention and decides to zonally mark the edge of the area, leaving Zinchenko alone.

Snapshot 2:

As Zinchenko receives the ball with his head at the back post, Arsenal player's movements around the goalkeeper had created a tricky situation in the 6-yard box and all the Crystal Palace players are caught ball watching.

Snapshot 3:

Zinchenko's looping header into the 6-yard box finds a teammate in Martinelli. The ball watching Crystal Palace players are not able to win the ball or challenge the young Brazilian. Martinelli is given an easy chance with a free header which had an xG of 0.16 and an xGOT of 0.29. With the keeper on his back foot as the ball travels into the left side of the net and to the keepers right.

52nd Minute: Crystal Palace 0 - 1 Arsenal (Eze Chance)

Snapshot 1:

As Crystal Palace push towards Arsenal's disorganised back line with 7 players being too compact, Eze makes a lateral run into the half-space but also had plenty of room to go wide as Arsenal are defending very narrowly. Ødegaard is caught with his back to goal and filling in at right back despite his lack of defensive ability, making it very easy for these spaces outside the back 3 to to exploited.

Snapshot 2:

Eze receives the ball in a very dangerous position and closes down on the goal quickly. Despite having a lot of the goal to aim for, his shot is unthreatening and straight into Ramsdale- A waste of a 0.49 xG chance due to poor finishing and good goalkeeping.

85th Minute: Crystal Palace 0 - 2 Arsenal (Guéhi Own Goal)

Snapshot 1:

Saka receives the ball on the right hand side, with Arsenal players rushing into the box leaving him isolated for passing options. He has 3 options- cut across the face of the area, drive at the defence putting the defence on the back foot or taking the ball dow the half-space and attempting a cross.

Snapshot 2:

As Saka decides to take the ball, Crystal Palace block any chance of an easy pass or cut inside with his left foot as he would be crowded out immediately. This limits his options and forces him to eventually play a driven cross across the face of goal.

Snapshot 3:

Saka's cross catches Guéhi moving backwards who tries to get behind the ball to head it away. Unfortunately for him, he can't get behind the ball and his header finds the back of his own goal, extending Arsenal's lead.

Prominent Arsenal Performances

MotM- William Saliba:

Saliba had a fantastic debut performance and was faultless in what could be considered a tough introduction fixture in the Premier League. The 21-year-old showed defensive maturity and composure Arsenal have been lacking for much of the last 15 years or so. He made 2 or 3 fantastic last-ditch tackles, showing great form as he did as to ensure he did not give away a foul for a dangerous tackle. He was able to dominate aerially and physically and looked very comfortable on the ball having the highest pass completion rate (91.4%) of any Arsenal player who attempted 10 or more passes. It was certainly a debut to remember and he'll be hoping to have a similar impact in the future for the club.

Key performance- Aaron Ramsdale:

Aaron Ramsdale made 2 very important saves in the match: An Edouard header on the edge of the 6-yard box that Ramsdale met with a firm glove and a 0.49 xG chance from Eze where Ramsdale was able to close down the angles well and get close enough to Eze to be able to stop his shot. He was able to showcase his fantastic distribution too, playing a beautiful low drop kick down the left side to Zinchenko and having an average passing distance of 39.7 metres improving on his average distance from last season of 33.8 metres.

Disappointing performance- Bukayo Saka:

Saka had a difficult game, but it was not entirely his fault. Arsenal's tactics and lack of wide overlapping runs forced Saka to provide Arsenal's width. He often looked isolated from the rest of the team when he received the ball and the interchange with Ødegaard that was so prevalent last season was nowhere to be seen. With the lowest xG per shot of anyone in the team, he was not getting into the areas where he would normally thrive and this is a symptom of the Arsenal striker not always being furthest up the pitch, causing Ødegaard tot take that role and leaving Saka alone and separated from the team.

3 Areas to improve

1. Width: Due to the positional play Arteta has implemented, it left Saka and Martinelli largely isolated out wide and unable to link up with Jesus or Nketiah down the middle. If they were to stay on the opposition fullbacks and adjust their position according to the flow of play, they could still offer the positioning in the half-spaces but also have the ability to overwhelm the opposition down the middle should they receive the ball in a narrower area. Arteta is looking to implement unpredictability but rigidly sticking to the half-spaces without overlapping fullbacks allows the opposition defence to stay narrow and not have to worry about a minority of players in the area.

2. Defence: The 3 at the back facilitated by Zinchenko's versatility, pushing higher up and more central, meant that Arsenal had to defend narrow and commit players like Ødegaard and Xhaka to defend the wide spaces. Eze found his way through to an easy opportunity because Ben White could not go wide otherwise he would risk exposing a lot of space in between himself and Saliba. A more versatile system must be put into place and either use Partey to or Saliba to fill in at right centre back and allow Ben White to cover the wide right position, whilst Ødegaard drops back and into a more central role.

3. Front line height: Another place where Arsenal struggled was in drawing out the defence through interplay between the lines. Xhaka and Ødegaard frequently pushed up to the defensive line, in line with Martinelli, Jesus and Saka. This gave Arsenal limited passing options when trying to penetrate the Crystal Palace defence and left a lot to individual talent. On the occasions where Jesus or Nketiah dropped deep and charged at the back line, Arsenal looked a lot more threatening as a defender would have to be drawn out of position in order to make a challenge, leaving a gap in the defence for a player in the half-spaces to move into and exploit.