Mikel Arteta has fanned the flames for Arsenal, but they are still Arsenal. Frank Lampard and Chelsea know what they are working with.
All the rumors in the summer of 2019 pointed towards Mikel Arteta becoming the Arsenal manager. Then, quite suddenly, Unai Emery was at the helm. Things went at Arsenal as they did at Paris Saint Germain for Emery (minus the complimentary trophies) and the Gunners reverted to the old plan by appointing Arteta.
Getting it out of the way, no, just because Arteta worked with Pep Guardiola for years does not make him Guardiola 2.0. His “knowing the club”, not unlike Frank Lampard or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, seems to have been a bigger deciding factor in the reversal over him. That being said, it still took Arsenal what felt like ages to convince themselves over his appointment.
Arteta has done as many new managers have done and started with the basics. Arsenal does have more get up and go in them than they ever really did under Emery. But Arteta is still working out of the same tool box. The same strengths and weaknesses remain, even if the mentality and spirit has improved.
Example number one of how Arteta cannot be assumed to be Guardiola 2.0 is the formation. Whereas Guardiola lives and dies by the 4-3-3 (and occasionally 3-5-2), Arteta has used a 4-2-3-1 in every single match he has managed thus far. Structurally, it is a formation that makes much more sense for Arsenal given the profile of most of their midfielders and Arteta’s desire to use Mesut Ozil unlike his predecessor (Ozil has started all four of Arteta’s matches).
Aside from that, it does start to take on Guardiola flavors. The attack generally looks to spread out and cover as many horizontal and vertical lanes as possible before shifting into a 2-3-5 shape with the full backs, wingers, and Ozil all moving to whichever area of the pitch they are most needed at the time.
They also have a tendency to play diagonal short passes into the box while overloading, under loading, overlapping, and under lapping. That is all basics of modern attacking play, but it has become much sharper under Arteta.
Defensively the main change comes in hustle. Arsenal looks to set up defensively faster than they did under Emery as they collapse into a 4-4-2. Pressing comes primarily after they get into shape as they shift from side to side to press in units. If they win the ball back, they generally look to switch the play over to the under loaded side first before beginning a buildup.
The main weakness for Arsenal will come in transition. While a 4-2-3-1 can naturally fall into a 4-4-2 off the ball, it is a bit unnatural for it to go into a 2-3-5 on offense and then a 4-4-2 on defense. That may be a large part as to why Arsenal tries to get into shape first rather than counter pressing.
There are a lot of touches of Guardiola in Arteta’s style, but no more so than Lampard or any other modern manager. Given Lampard’s tactics can be considered very Jurgen Klopp like, this match could likely look like a lower quality version of Manchester City versus Liverpool.
Lampard’s side can cope well with these tactics so long as the concentration is high. Given the shapes Arteta likes to use, a 3-4-3 might even be used by the Blues to gain some numerical advantages. But regardless, Chelsea can defeat Arteta and Arsenal now so long as they usual hiccups are left behind.