Online Reporter
ARSENAL took another huge step towards Premier League glory with a dramatic 1-0 win over West Ham on Sunday.
It was hardly smooth sailing for the Gunners, with Mikel Arteta having to make a series of tactical tweaks throughout.
The first came when Ben White was forced off with a knee injury and the Spaniard opted to move Declan Rice from midfield to right-back.
And when that didn’t work, Cristhian Mosquera was introduced at half-time to replace Riccardo Calafiori, with Myles Lewis-Skelly moving from centre midfield to left-back.
Arteta also made a huge call in the second half – one that ultimately won Arsenal the game.
In the latest episode of SunSport’s Tactics Exposed brought to you by Midnite, our tactics guru Dean Scoggins looked at how the Gunners took one step closer to the title.
Gaard of honour
Martin Odegaard has received a lot of criticism in recent weeks, but he made a huge impact after coming on at the London Stadium.
West Ham changed back to a back five and a 5-2-3 shape, meaning they had three pressing players when out of position.
Arsenal‘s passing lanes were blocked as a result, making it difficult for them to play forward.
It also allowed the West Ham wing-backs to jump out of position without leaving too much space behind.
Arteta changed things up with Odegaard coming on for Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke replacing Bukayo Saka in the second half.
The Gunners immediately gathered momentum going forward, with Kai Havertz playing in more of a No10 and Madueke stretching the pitch.
That gave Odegaard more space to attack – and that was evident in the goal.
Arteta kept rolling the dice and it paid off.
The man with the golden glove
It was a foul on David Raya. Everything else happening in the box at that time is redundant while that is going on.
If the challenge on Raya had been cleared, then VAR would have looked at the other incidents.
Because VAR has allowed similar incidents to happen all season, referees have stopped refereeing games in the penalty area.
They have let everything go. It should never have got to that point.
Raya was brave to attempt to catch the ball at that corner – it was how he won the foul.
But he also made some crucial saves earlier in the match.
The first was at the end of the first half from a Taty Castellanos diving header.
But the best was from a one-on-one with Mateus Fernandes from close range.
He timed the actual save to perfection, first starting small to then spread his body to stop the ball.
Gerrard, Lampard, Trossard
Big moments – Leandro Trossard has had a few of them now.
The winger found himself in pockets of space more in the second half, especially in the narrow areas.
That is what allowed him to be in the right position to get that decisive shot away for the goal.
If he hadn’t got in those positions, which may well have been a plan at half-time, he wouldn’t have been there for the all-important one-two with that man Odegaard for the winning goal.
It’s moments like that where they keep going, be it maybe that it was a deflection, that may well ultimately win Arsenal the title.
And also, send West Ham down- Sun.
