There are few sides in football today who are more difficult to predict the performances of than Arsenal. Over the last five seasons the side from North London have almost become a parody of themselves with Arsene Wenger’s refusal to install a secondary game plan for matches in which his side struggle to cope with the opposition and their tactical structure.

This lack of consistency has been at its most clear in recent weeks with the five goal demolition of Southampton in the FA cup being followed by a 2-1 reversal to Watford in the Premier League.

Without finding a way to inject some consistency in their form, it is difficult to see Arsenal challenging effectively at the top of the table.

Compare that to Chelsea who, under Italian coach Antonio Conte, have firmly established themselves as one of the most consistent and impressive sides in Europe. A flexible tactical approach, with players able to contribute as effectively in the attacking and defensive phases of the game, has led to a string of strong performances as Chelsea firmly established themselves at the top of the table.

After the loss to Watford in the mid-week round of fixtures it is now imperative for Arsenal’s title challenge that they take something from this match against Chelsea. Allowing Chelsea to take all three points would see the gap between the two become all but impossible to claw back.

Chelsea need to overload the half spaces

For those that are wondering, the term ‘half spaces’ is just a convenient way to describe the space between the wide and central areas of the field. If you split the pitch up in to five vertical channels and number them one to five from left to right then the half spaces would be two and four.

A key component of the 3-4-3 system that Conte has adopted this season has been the interplay between the wing-backs and wide forwards, who interact with one another to create overloads and ensure that they are not both occupying the same space on the field.

With Eden Hazard and Marcos Alonso in particular on the left hands side of the field Chelsea are extremely difficult to defend against. The patterns of movement from Hazard who moves between the left side, left half space and central corridor, make it extremely difficult for the opposition to defend effectively.

Chelsea should be able to overload the left zone with the movement of Diego Costa as the lone striker also interlinking with that of Hazard and Alonso. With little by the way of effective defensive support from the midfield of Arsenal, we could see Chelsea easily overcome the defensive resistance from Arsenal.

Arsenal need to stretch the Chelsea midfield two

With Chelsea lining up with a 3-4-3 structure the weakest point should in theory be with the two central midfielders who are often outmatched numerically by sides that play with three men in the centre of the midfield.

You do of course have to accept that one of those two central midfielders tends to be N’Golo Kante, who does the work of two men on his own.

Still, the key in penetrating the Chelsea structure centrally lies in pulling one of either Kante or Matic out of position before switching the ball back centrally and playing through the gap that you have created.

In order to achieve this you have to be willing to either instruct your full-backs to take up a narrow role, so that they move in to the half spaces in the build up phase, or be willing to have one of your two centre-backs step out in to the midfield with the ball, thus pulling one of the two central midfielders towards him.

Given that the full-backs and in particular Hector Bellerin on the right are a key factor in the build up and attacking phase for Arsenal, I believe that we are more likely to see Laurent Koscielny given the freedom to bring the ball out in to the middle third of the pitch. The French centre-back is the most capable Arsenal defender on the ball and should be comfortable in deliberately attracting the central midfielders across towards him before shifting the ball back centrally.

For this strategy to be effective, however, Arsenal will have to rely on their wide forwards to retain a high and wide position on the pitch to ensure that Chelsea’s wing-backs have to cover their position, instead of narrowing down and cutting out the space at the sides of the two central midfielders.

Conclusion

We are now approaching the stage of the season where games become ‘must win’ and these tactical battles take on an extra dimension. The margins between victory and defeat become even finer and the tension is raised ten fold.

After the disappointment of last season when Arsenal under Arsene Wenger failed to capitalise on the poor form of their accepted rivals allowing Leicester City to win the title with little difficulty, there is now genuine pressure on the French coach to deliver a genuine title challenge.

In order to do so, this Chelsea side will have to be overcome and the likes of Eden Hazard and Diego Costa will have to be negated all the while ensuring that they retain the attacking impetus to stretch the Chelsea defensive structure and create chances of their own.

Consistency will be the key for either side in overcoming their challengers to win the title. We are now in the home straight of the season with time now limited towards the end of May, when the title winners will be crowned.

Whether either of these sides will be celebrating at the end of the season will be largely decided by this match.

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