Chelsea v Arsenal tactical preview: Alex Keble looks at how Mikel Arteta and Frank Lampard measure up for London derby

The sheer scale of the project facing Mikel Arteta means progress in 2019/20 was always likely to be a stuttering process; one that defies an easy narrative or smooth upward trajectory. After all, Arsenal’s recent history is one of meandering and chaos, an almost paradoxical mix of passivity and anarchy.

Under Unai Emery they lurched and they ached, but they also did absolutely nothing for long stretches. Ultimately Arsenal’s players just couldn’t shake off the apathy that had set in under Arsene Wenger, certainly not for long enough to fully buy into the anxious methods of his replacement. Swapping the sleepy comfort of Wenger for the erratic rhythms of Emery was too much to ask.

And so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Arteta, too, is having a little trouble yanking the club in the right direction. His gentile but masculine charisma – cutting a grounded, but firm, figure - has certainly inspired greater effort from key individuals. Following a 1-1 draw with Sheffield United on Saturday, it looks as though the tactical side hasn’t been so easy to change.

In games against Manchester United and Crystal Palace it had seemed Arteta was teaching automatisms (preconditioned attacking moves that flow effortlessly on match days) at Man City and Liverpool – but perhaps it was confidence and work-rate masquerading as tactical intelligence.

It is too early to tell, although a trip to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening should give us a pretty good indication. Arteta has had a couple of weeks on the training field this month without midweek matches. If his Guardiola-inspired tactical coaching is taking hold, Chelsea can be blown away. If not, then Frank Lampard’s young side will fancy their chances of outmanoeuvring the visitors’ ropey back four.

Arteta’s Arsenal: Individualism or tactical cohesion?

Sheff Utd’s stubborn 3-5-2, sitting in a midblock to deny Arsenal the ability to delicately build through the centre of the park, forced Arteta’s side into a performance of hesitancy and disconnectedness on Saturday. The way in which they juddered down the flanks, depending on excellent isolationist performances from Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka, was more reminiscent of the better days under Emery than previous Arteta matches.

That could be to do with Sheff Utd’s brilliance, or it could be that Arsenal’s early confidence is wearing off and some basic positional intelligence issues are re-emerging. Granit Xhaka was static, for example, leaving Lucas Torreira disconnected from Ozil. More alarmingly still, Arsenal weren’t compressed enough on the ball, with head-down dribbles preventing any quick give-and-gos in the United half.

It was a far cry from the 30 minute bursts of superb football we witnessed against Palace, Man Utd, and even Chelsea in recent weeks. On those occasions it was compression between the lines that made Arsenal so effective, dramatically improving a collective high press while simplifying the roles of Torreira and Xhaka.

If that side of their game has been honed over the last fortnight then Chelsea could be in trouble. It is no secret that Frank Lampard’s side struggle with the transition from attack to defence, a consequence of spreading too wide across the pitch when probing the opposition final third. They certainly aren’t compressed, leaving huge spaces through the middle for counter-attacks.

Presumably Arteta has been targeting this area of weakness and coming up with a specific plan to move the ball in the transitions. The extent to which Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette, and Gabriel Martinelli can combine in the holes around Jorginho will tell us just how much of Arteta’s coaching is cutting through.

Chelsea can rediscover form against calamitous centre-backs

Should Arsenal stutter, Chelsea will pen them in and harass them as they did for much of the second half at the Emirates. Should Arsenal get their transitions right, the game will become stretched and potentially open space at either end.

Essentially, that means whatever happens Chelsea’s out-of-form creative midfielders will get the chance to expose arguably the worst centre-back partnership in the Premier League.

David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi are much improved in 2020 and yet both are still prone to a big mistake. More pertinently, they are prone to flinching under a high press and getting caught flat-footed against nimble young attackers. And so Chelsea are the perfect team to exploit them – or at least they were before this midseason slump kicked in.

Lampard’s side are struggling because his managerial style is the opposite of Arteta’s. Where the Spaniard is attempting to instil automatisms, the Chelsea manager gives his forwards genuine creative freedom – mimicking the tactical model that he enjoyed as a player under laissez-faire attacking coaches like Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti.

That works nicely when everyone’s happy, and when the high press is a novelty that catches opponents cold, but as soon as confidence wanes the lack of muscle memory to fall back on becomes a problem. The mind, like the body, seizes up when self-belief is low. Imagination requires confidence; requires freedom of spirit.

Mason Mount, Willian, and Tammy Abraham look meek recently, but here, a derby game in front of a friendly crowd, is the perfect opportunity to get their verve back. Luiz and Mustafi will prove accommodating opponents if the Mount-Abraham partnership returns.

It’s a fairly big ‘if’, although Chelsea fans need not worry that all the pressure is on their young number ten. Reece James - whose crossing has proved a revelation - versus Sako on Chelsea’s right wing is a match up that clearly favours the young Chelsea man. His ability to fizz balls in from deeper positions has relieved some of the pressure on Mount; Saka, a winger by trade, is unlikely get tight enough to James.

It’s a tantalising head-to-head, as is Ozil versus Jorginho, Torreira versus Kante, Pepe versus Azpilicueta, and Abraham versus Mustafi. There are a lot of individual zones, and battles, that could ultimately define the outcome on Tuesday evening. That’s telling. When previews favour individuals - isolated variables – it suggests the collectives, the team shapes, are missing something.

Arsenal and Chelsea are both clumsy. It could be claustrophobic and heavy. Or it could be delightfully chaotic.

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