The Regista - Arsenal vs Man City tactical review: Pep & Arteta go narrow; one long-ball made difference

Tribalfootball.com's tactics expert Connor Holden pulls apart Arsenal's dramatic late victory over Premier League title holders Manchester City and how the tactics of both managers almost canceled eachtother out...

In a very cagey affair at the Emirates, Arsenal managed to prevail, beating City with a late goal from Gabriel Martinelli - a deflected strike from the edge of the 18 yard box.

But this game looked to be petering out to a stalemate end, and in this tactical review, we are going to discuss what both teams did to nullify the other, and why this game played out the way it did.

ARSENAL'S NARROW DEFENSIVE SHAPE AND TACTICAL BUILD-UP CHANGE

In this game, Arsenal looked to defend narrow by bringing their wingers (in this instance Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard) infield to block the central passing lanes into the City forwards. This made a 4-5-1 out of possession, with the main aim of forcing City into wide areas.

Arsenal were looking to overload the central areas and make it hard for City to make fast interchanges in central zones, they wanted City to play the ball into wide areas where Arsenal could use the byline as an extra defender and push City into safer areas to then pressure them.

This was Mikel Arteta's plan to trap City, by setting pressing patterns for them to go into wide areas where Arsenal could then press them to recover the ball without leaving themselves open in central areas. This was a cautious approach to keep things tight whilst still recovering the ball and creating transition attacks when possible.

Another change Arsenal made tactically was their decision to build up in a 4-2 structure, keeping their fullbacks wide and having a double pivot midfield, as opposed to their