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A high-up-the-pitch turnover game is what Arsenal should be aiming for

Suburban Gooners Logo Suburban Gooners Logo Yesterday I did a bit of a look at West Ham, but with Arteta and Lopetegui having their press conferences yesterday, we have a little more detail and I think I’ll obviously focus a little more on us today.

But before that, the West Ham team news, which Lopetegui talked about alongside handing our a rather large metaphorical bouquet of flowers for Arteta and his Arsenal side. They’ll be without Kudus, which is a bit bonus for us, but they do have Edson Alvarez back, who will most likely anchor their midfield and provide defensive cover for their back line today. My brother and a big chunk of family on my Dad’s side are all West Ham fans (as I’ve mentioned before on this blog) and I was messaging him on Monday night to get the low down on the performance. He was – like me – impressed that West Ham found a better balance by playing Soler and Paqueta in more deeper-lying roles, with Soucek a little further forward which meant ball-playing midfielders in front of the back line enabling them to get out a little better and retain possession on transition, but whether the arrival of Alvarez will change that will be interesting. He may opt to keep that team that played on Monday night because, like Newcastle on their own ground, I suspect Lopetegui will expect us to have more of the ball and dominate more of the territory.

So Arteta needs to be prepared for that and we need to be prepared for West Ham to look to use those deeper playmakers to spring traps with the likes of Bowen and Summerville feeding Antonio. The former England striker will use his physicality to try to occupy Saliba and Gabriel, but providing our same back four is playing that played on Tuesday night in Lisbon, you’d hope that we have enough quality to handle a West Ham team buoyed by a good recent away victory.

For us I think Arteta will want us forcing high turnovers and mistakes high up the pitch to keep the Hammers under pressure. That means we need to put pressure on their midfielders if they are sitting deep and screening the back line, so I’m expecting a standard Arsenal out-of-possession higher press today to see if we can force West Ham in to mistakes high up the pitch. Arteta referenced the physicality of the West Ham side, but as we all know, we aren’t a team of shrinking violets; I think there’s a battle to be won here tonight and I wonder if that impacts team selection.

Which is why I am wondering if Arteta goes for the duel monster Merino from the start here today. We all know he’s a higher-up-the-pitch ball-winner and if Arteta wants to do that he might see this as an ideal game for Merino. The problem he has, however, is who to drop. Odegaard is a non-negotiable, Partey is in some of his best form in an Arsenal shirt and Rice will be extra up for it given he’ll get a smattering of boo’s from his old club today. His form has been up and down, but Arteta always plays Rice when he can and so I wonder if it is because of Partey’s form that Merino might miss out. If that happens though, it’s good to have options from the bench.

And given the return of a few players of late, it’s great to see that we’ll have a strong bench, should Arteta wish to change it up. In his press conference yesterday he was at pains to talk up Raheem Sterling, but he also has Trossard (I’m assuming he’s benched given Martinelli has scored in two of his last three games in all competitions), Gabriel Jesus, Merino as I already mentioned, Jorginho who played well at home to Forest, Nwaneri who is getting more game time, as well as defensive options in Kiwior and Zinchenko. There’s players there that could all feasibly play their part.

So there are reason’s to be positive, but the team has to react tonight, they HACE to get the three points. Arteta was asked about who he wants to win out of City and Liverpool and of course he refused to answer, but he’ll know that defeat tonight makes it a moot point; either team winning or even a draw pulls both further away from us if the Hammers overcome us tonight. We can all feel like we’re getting a bit of momentum after two wins last week, but as Arteta said in the presser, it matters what you do now, rather than in the last few days.

It feels like we have to start well tonight. These evening games always have the home fans in good voice when you’re away from home; they all been able to have a bit of extra time to have a drink, they’re keen for a scalp and they’ll be up for this given their win on Monday. But if we start well, if we keep them quiet and limit chances in the opening salvo’s of the game, then West Ham fans have been known to turn on their team and grumble in the past. That’s what we have to hope for tonight.

My gut feel is that he probably doesn’t change the starting XI and if that’s the case then that’s a-ok with me. On Monday having watched West Ham I saw an intensity about them that concerned me, but the perfect tonic for that was the intensity of our players, as well as the way we were popping the ball around in the half spaces. More of that tonight please, Arsenal. I don’t think this will be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination, but if you have title aspirations you have to win these kind of tough away games in hostile environments.

As usual Amanda and I will be doing a de-brief tomorrow on the Same Old Arsenal podcast, as well as me on here just before that, so if you fancy having a listen then we’d love to have you.

Catch you all tomorrow and fingers crossed for another Arsenal three points.

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Gooner born in 1982 from Harlow, Essex, now living in Uxbridge. I say what I see - frequently wrong, but hey, it's just an opinion piece, right? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.