Why Man City could do with being a bit more like Bournemouth and Forest to take down Arsenal | OneFootball

Our resident set-piece expert Jake Fox looks at how Pep Guardiola and Manchester City can take inspiration from the Premier League‘s overachievers as they take on Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal this weekend.

Manchester City travel to the Emirates this weekend, but the game has a slightly less ‘season-defining’ feel than previous outings. The hosts find themselves amidst a small slump of injury-related exhaustion, and the travellers find themselves slowly but surely looking to regain their place in the Top 4 after a similarly injury-hit campaign. Despite all the change, there is a constant in this tie, and one that defined the 2-2 back in September: set-pieces.

Whilst Arsenal dominated in this respect last time out, until that old exhaustion reared its head in the 94th minute, City have a lot of potential to reverse the fortunes this time round, and that is by mirroring the plucky south-coasters only a point behind them, AFC Bournemouth.

Starting first with some context. Arsenal are having a difficult year defending their own net from set-pieces, after a spectacular season following David “Proactive” Raya’s usurp of Aaron “Reactive” Ramsdale in net last time out. After that awkward away day at the Kenilworth (have you seen that away end etc.), Raya’s ability to push opposition and his own teammates away from his net meant Arsenal limited shot quality from opposition set-pieces immensely, backed up by Gabriel as a terrier chasing away crosses.

This season however, the cracks are showing. Despite limiting opposition to the lowest xG from set-pieces in the league, Arsenal have conceded 7 goals from these situations this season. Manchester United, who seemingly let in an Olympico a week for a month, have only conceded 3 more. With an inconsistent back-line and a steadier stream of chances being allowed by the Gunners (50 shots conceded already, compared to 71 the entirety of last season), Arsenal’s large gaps are being exposed.

Whilst before, those gaps allowed Raya to claim aggressively, the league-wide increase in blocking on defenders and goalkeepers especially has meant these are no longer a space Arsenal can completely control. Add this to the physical downturn of the side due to increased injuries and an equally increased fixture list, Arsenal are losing control when facing short corners too. City themselves took advantage to equalise late last time, with Arsenal switching off as they become sucked into defending their 6-yard late on.

This was not a new move for City either. In every season under Guardiola, City have favoured the short delivery, placing set-pieces in their wider game-model of high possession and high control. In previous years, the likes of Grealish and Alvarez have allowed these to become more dynamic than simple slow build-ups, and the slow-but-sure addition of giants in the backline such as Akanji and Gvardiol has boosted the ability to add a flavourful depth to the set-piece menu too.

This process generally tends to work when Rodri exists. If City aim for high control but lose the ball, Rodri will once again ensure high control. Now however, City don’t have that safety plug, and instead have opted to bolster the attack with Omar Marmoush to add some further attacking dynamism, fitting with the league’s general move towards big speed and big spaces.

This is where Bournemouth come in. Bournemouth are a brilliant example of fighting back against the status quo of a set-piece, against the idea of “big lads win big headers from big crosses and that’s that”, I think City would be wise to sneak a few peeks at the modern version of City’s set-piece style playing out at the Vitality Stadium.

Whilst other teams, including City, allow short corners to become affairs of suffocating control, Bournemouth are using these to engage in their “organised chaos” the wider game-model encourages. We can see this in their goal vs Brentford especially. From a seemingly standard short corner, Bournemouth spring their trap, launching into a finely choreographed give-and-go between Lewis Cook and man-reborn Justin Kluivert. What’s more, they platform all of this with a sturdy block in the middle of the box from Milos Kerkez to open up a lane for Kluivert’s run, giving him a 1v1 finish from 6 yards.

It’s physicality, but more importantly it’s mobile physicality, and it’s this stylistic rethink of a set-piece that allows Bournemouth to feel so fresh; Guardiola has even said himself that Bournemouth are playing ‘modern football’. Short corners are still a method of control, but generating a situation that leans into where the league is stylistically.

With the addition of Marmoush, who promises great movement and great deliveries, I would encourage City to take advantage of Arsenal’s insecurities this weekend through Bournemouth’s principles. Using this speed and intelligent blocking, City can effectively bait out the large spaces that have plagued Arsenal this season: Justin for Leicester, Isak for Newcastle, Stones for City, Watkins for Villa, even Son for Spurs, all scored as Arsenal are pulled from their comfort zones to the edge of the area, where the awaiting mitts of Raya can’t pluck so simply. Go short, pull the crowd away from the 6-yard line, then strike fast.

The way to counter Arsenal’s dominant physicality? Change what type of physicality you’re asking of them. As we saw against Chelsea, City are pretty well-suited to big spaces nowadays.