Just 24 days separated Arsenal’s two league games with Aston Villa, but Tuesday’s return fixture at the Emirates could not have come soon enough for Mikel Arteta.
A 2-1 loss at Villa Park was the only blot on an otherwise impeccable page in recent weeks, but Arsenal’s manager was desperate to right the wrongs that his side faced at the start of the month.
“We’ll watch it back. I have a few ideas and things that we have to do better,” Arteta said in his pre-match press conference. “It was quite cruel as well, the way we lost it, but we’ll learn from it.”
One of Arteta’s ideas was surely to tighten things up out of possession, with Villa repeatedly making channel runs to exploit the space vacated by full-backs Riccardo Calafiori and Ben White playing high upfield during their clash at Villa Park.
Piero Hincapie and Jurrien Timber were the full-backs on Tuesday evening, providing greater defensive solidity in wide areas, which allowed their team-mates ahead of them to be brave when pressing high.
When Villa built out from goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, there were clear responsibilities for each of Arsenal’s front five. Viktor Gyokeres would block passes to the right centre-back, Bukayo Saka would have a hybrid role between left centre-back and left-back, while Mikel Merino and Martin Odegaard locked on man-for-man against Villa’s two midfielders.
Timber and Leandro Trossard would also be in a position ready to jump forward if needed.
This is not dissimilar to Arsenal’s typical out-of-possession setup, and was with the same approach taken in early December against Villa’s build-up — albeit with different personnel.
The issue was that Arteta’s ideas were not working, if the opening 20 minutes were anything to go by. Villa are known for their deep build-up to attract the opposition onto them, but their baiting of Arsenal’s press was working well to find the spare man.
Below, Odegaard and Merino briefly swapped who they were marking in midfield — but Merino is too slow to get tight to Youri Tielemans as Martinez passes out. With Arsenal committing five to the press, a single pass from Tielemans plays Morgan Rogers in behind their back line.
Arsenal missed the injured Declan Rice in the heart of midfield, and Villa could bear down on their defence a little too easily in the first half.
Rogers’ movement was particularly effective, supporting Villa’s build-up by adding an extra player in deeper areas. Below you can see him dropping in with a neat flick to release Amadou Onana…
… or Rogers would come deep himself — dragging Gabriel with him — to hold onto possession before turning out of pressure and breaking Arsenal’s press individually.
Unai Emery would have been the happier of the two managers in the opening exchanges, but the warning signs were still there that Arsenal’s high press would be effective.
Consistent aggressive positioning from Arteta’s front five meant that Martinez often had little choice but to play a long ball through the heart of the pitch (where Arsenal could pick up the second ball), or Villa were forced to play a loose pass that returned possession to Arsenal high up the field.
With left-back Lucas Digne often left as the spare man — and Timber ready to jump if needed — a clipped ball to the touchline was often chosen by Martinez. The execution was not always perfect, meaning Arsenal could regain the ball by forcing errors through their coordination out of possession.
A trademark Arsenal set piece unlocked the scoreline, but Arteta’s side continued to turn the screw in the second half after working out how to shut down Villa’s build-up.
Their man-for-man pressing was key for their second goal, as Villa looked to play the ball through the heart of the pitch once again. This time, Martin Zubimendi stayed higher to close down Tielemans after Odegaard was deeper from Arsenal’s own build-up phase.
With all other options cut off, Zubimendi forced Tielemans into a quick pass towards Jadon Sancho — who was immediately closed down by Odegaard. As Arsenal’s captain dribbles forward, Zubimendi’s high positioning means he can be the one to receive the threaded pass before converting neatly first time.
Minutes later, Arteta’s side were suffocating Villa as they looked to play out from the back.
The pattern across the pitch should be familiar by now, but Arsenal’s tails were up and their execution of the high press was slick and unwavering. Within seconds, an Aston Villa goal kick has rapidly flipped into another Arsenal wave of attack.
“The first 10 minutes were a bit shaky, where we had to adjust things. Credit to them because they broke our press and had situations where they could run,” Arteta said after the game.
“Against them, you have to be really meticulous, and understand the timing of things with everyone working together to achieve that. We adjusted, and the timings were right — the players were super efficient in what they did, so credit to them because it is not easy against this team.”
Arsenal regained possession in the attacking third on eight occasions on Tuesday evening, their highest tally of the season. Still, it is interesting to see that their volume of high regains has steadily declined since 2023-24, when they were suffocating teams into submission with their watertight pressing from the front.
Part of that trend is for reasons out of Arsenal’s control.
Knowing the out-of-possession threat they pose, Arteta’s side have faced the highest share of opponent passes played long (35-plus yards) since the start of last season. In other words, opposition managers will often look to bypass Arsenal’s press rather than attempt to play through it.
Against a team like Aston Villa — who are unrelenting in their tendency to build their attack from deep areas — Arsenal could double down on their strengths in pressing high. It took some time to click into gear, but it was crucial to their success on the night.