Tactical Analysis

An Arsenal side inspired by Mesut Özil and captained by Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey got back to winning ways against West Ham, while also turning in a solid performance they can build upon moving towards Wembley.

‘Control’ in a footballing context is an almost subjective word that means different things to different people. Someone who didn’t watch Saturday’s match at The...

‘Control’ in a footballing context is an almost subjective word that means different things to different people. Whatever it is, Arsenal lacked it against West Brom

In March 2013, Arsene Wenger used a dead rubber Last 16 2nd Leg against Bayern Munich to experiment with a new line-up that would click and ultimately get Arsenal over the line and help them achieve that season’s minimum requirement of retaining Champions League football for the following season.

Rather than persist with something that was proven to not work at Anfield, Arsene Wenger instead tried something different in an attempt to come away from one of this current Arsenal team’s bogey grounds with an unlikely victory.

When Arsene Wenger said that “you wouldn’t necessarily find a Cazorla even if you wanted to,” I thought, “Sounds like a challenge!”

Arsenal’s fundamentally sound gameplan was undone by a series of individual errors in a 10 minute period as the Gunners slumped to a very different 5-1 defeat at the Allianz Arena than the one they had suffered last season.

A disjointed and unconvincing Arsenal side achieved what they ultimately needed to against Marco Silva’s rejuvenated Hull on Saturday, but there is cause for concern moving forward.

Mesut Ozil's performance against Hull at the Emirates one once again disappointing.

Arsenal were found wanting yet again at Stamford Bridge on Saturday in a defeat that finally ended a title challenge that had been running on fumes.

An Alex Iwobi inspired Arsenal were well on their way to staging a second half comeback and digging their way out of a hole that was completely of their own making, but instead dug their way back into it, while Watford watched on.

When the teamsheet came out on Saturday, some worried Arsenal may have to continue their wait before getting a first win at St Mary’s since Southampton’s return to the top flight in 2012.

Two moments of madness from central midfielders nearly saw Arsenal throw away what had looked like a safe three points in an accomplished performance against Burnley but how will they cope without Granit Xhaka?

Saturday’s performance in the 0-4 win at Swansea was Arsenal’s most aesthetically pleasing display in the league since the win over Chelsea back in September, so what did they do differently?

As a centreback, it's somewhat unusual for Shkodran Mustafi to consistently complete the most passes out of anyone on the pitch.

Football matches turn on moments.

For the fourth straight year, Arsenal’s festive fixtures featured a frustrating display on the South coast.

After being frustrated for 86 minutes, Arsenal finally broke the deadlock against a dogged West Brom side thanks to an Olivier Giroud header.

Arsenal’s second half performance in the defeat for Manchester City was a cause for great concern.

Arsenal came away empty-handed from Goodison Park after playing well for approximately two of the final 60 minutes against Ronald Koeman’s resurgent Everton side, who had only won one of their last 10 matches.

All players take an undetermined amount time to return to their best form after coming back from injury.

The enduring memory of Tuesday night’s triumphant trip to Basel will be the scintillatingly slick move for Lucas Perez’s second goal but it should also be of the Xhaka-Ramsey partnership

He makes things happen but he's high-risk, high-reward player. Just how has Wenger got the Ox flying?

Arsenal managed to both play fairly well and also make life unnecessarily difficult for themselves against a very competent Bournemouth side. Here's how Granit Xhaka played his part.

Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka could be a formidable midfield pairing for Arsenal, here's why

As you were no doubt told when you first started watching football, going in 0-0 at half time of an away game is no bad thing.

Arsenal should have been out of sight by halftime in the north London derby, so how did Spurs end up with a draw?

On 4th July 1998 in Marseille, Dennis Bergkamp turned in a performance that for 89 minutes of the match was considerably shy of his...

When something isn’t going your way, you either try to work harder to make it happen, or you try to work smarter; in the final 25 minutes against Sunderland on Saturday, Arsenal did a bit of both.

The midfield configuration in Carlo Ancelotti’s great Milan side had the technical prowess and brains of Andrea Pirlo at the base, Gennaro Gattuso as the pitbull ballwinner slightly ahead of him, and then the creative spark of Kaka as its number 10. Arsenal have Francis Coquelin

Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin completed the most passes during Arsenal's 0-0 draw against Middlesbrough but, even so, the Gunners missed Santi Cazorla and Granit Xhaka massively.

Mesut Özil rightly took the plaudits as Arsenal’s standout performer in last night’s 6-0 win over Ludogorets, as The Perfect 10 crowned his sublime overall performance with his first ever senior hat-trick in the second half but it's the Ox who we taker a closer look at.

For many, the highlight of Saturday’s win against Swansea was birthday boy Mesut Özil’s sumptuous volley.

After two exhilarating champagne and caviar displays against Chelsea and Basel, Arsenal were very much back to sausages at Burnley, but managed to escape Turf Moor with all three points after a somewhat fortuitous last-minute winner.

In the first of his regular post-match tactics pieces, Amrit Rae explains why it's taken so long to integrate Granit Xhaka at Arsenal

Arsenal's Saturday stroll in Hull showed some hints of method to what has appeared tactical madness.

With the majority of things in football, once a team is successful in adopting an approach to winning - others follow suit.

I've just spent the last couple of hours having the 'pleasure' of watching Roy Hodgson metamorphose from 'incompetent buffoon' into 'tactical god', all because...

Pedro Losa's side maintained the Arsenal Ladies' tradition of bringing one trophy home per season with the club's 14th FA Women's Cup triumph on Saturday against Chelsea at Wembley.

Slipping out of the title race and into the fight for Champions League places, questions are going to be asked of Arsenal's home form this season.