The London derby is nearly upon us as Arsenal host Chelsea at the Emirates on Saturday. The Gunners have hit a slump ever since their 3-2 defeat against Southampton in December. Unai Emery’s men have won twice, lost twice and drawn one game since then.
Chelsea have recovered well from their defeat against Leicester City, but are still not convincingly superior to Arsenal. However, The Blues will start as favourites on Saturday, in the crucial derby which could shape the top four.
We take a look at the tactics Maurizio Sarri could turn to, ahead of this big-ticket fixture.
HAZARD – THE DECOY
Eden Hazard
In all likelihood, Willian, Pedro Rodriguez and Eden Hazard will be starting up front, with Oliver Giroud on the bench. The Belgian could start as a false-nine, like he’s been doing for a while now.
Sarri might like to take this a notch higher and play Hazard even deeper and use him as a decoy to attract the likes of Lucas Torreira, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi.
The change in shape of Arsenal’s defensive line is inevitable as the players congest the central area to play a narrow line.
This should allow Willian to occupy the half-space and hence keep Hector Bellerin stuck to him, setting Marcos Alonso free on the wing.
Simply put, Hazard can be used as a decoy to distort Arsenal’s shape and the full-backs can take over.
TURN TO SET-PIECES
David Luiz
This can be thought of as a plan B. Arsenal have shown vulnerability to set pieces, having conceded three goals from indirect free-kicks and one from a corner.
At the same time, Chelsea have a bunch of players who can be decisive from set-pieces.
Willian and Alonso have shown their threat from the deadball situations and the likes of David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger can be lethal in the box.
Not to forget, the brilliant dribbler that he is, Hazard can manage to win a free-kick in dangerous areas.
Should plan A fail, Sarri can turn to set-pieces and hence get Oliver Giroud on the pitch to make an impact.
