Arsenal vs Brighton: The Battle of Space & Movement
"I have to praise my team because I know what Brighton does to teams and we didn't allow that to happen"
Brighton & Hove Albion have earned a bit of a reputation as a team that can punish you with a clinical press. In the same vein, Brighton’s strategy can leave them exposed, but taking advantage of that exposure is easier said than done.
Arsenal on the other hand could probably be best described as Brighton V2. Both teams play with a similar philosophy of a high-press, offensive-width, and possession focused transitional counter attacking; Arsenal have much higher quality players.
When these two teams face off its a treat for those us obsessed with space and movement.
And so it begins! Former Brighton player Leandro Trossard should be trapped. The now Arsenal left winger has been forced into his own half and he’s surrounded by Brighton players albeit, the team is not aggressively pressing.
When we think about the quality of Arsenal’s midfield it all starts and ends with Ødegaard. Understanding his teammate is trapped, Ødegaard moves into the open space, note, if Trossard loses the ball Ødegaard has put himself in a less defensive position but this is the type of play Arteta wants his team to execute.
Here is what danger looks like.
Trossard with all his quality, remains calm and plays the risky pass in-between his Brighton defenders to Ødegaard who’s primed to attack a disorganized Brighton.
van Hecke has what should be an easy decision to make here, stay tight to Nketiah, but understanding the stress that Ødegaard puts when he’s in-possession, running with the ball creates disfunction for Brighton.
van Hecke has completely dropped the ball so to speak by allowing Nketiah to receive the ball comfortably as well burn him on the turn.
Nketiah is not what you would describe as a playmaker but here he is able to show a dangerous dimension to his offensive game as the set-up player.
Returning to Arsenal’s offensive philosophy of leveraging width, Saka creates a problem for Brighton’s Igor. With Saka nearly at the touchline, Igor is positioned about as best as he can to defend against both threats.
Lewis Dunk, who’s in a 2v1 situation, is the last line of defense.
Figure 4.0 is a bit of a unicorn, it’s a Lewis Dunk mistake.
Because of van Hecke’s error in the Figure 3.0 motion, Dunk is now in a position where he is defending no one.
Dunk makes a decision to leave Havertz in exchange for blocking the straight through ball to the Arsenal midfielder. Dunk is defending the space but without committing to Nketiah and without van Hecke by his side; the gamble here is “can Nketiah make that pass?”
Nketiah pulls off the pass and finds Havertz in exactly the type of positions Mikel Arteta wants his new midfielder to be in.