THE greatest show on Earth is back this weekend – and it all starts with Crystal Palace vs Arsenal on Friday night.If Arsenal are finally going to crack the top four this season this is exactly the kind of game they need to be better in than last season.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is aiming for a top-four finishCredit: Getty
Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira has been rebuilding the side at PalaceCredit: PA
There are three key areas where this opening day fixture is going to be won or lost by either side.
Last season saw the incoming Palace boss Patrick Vieira build a mixture of players who were young and hungry blended with older players with a point to prove – and Palace progressed to finish safely in mid-table.
Arsenal, on the other hand, suffered a more difficult season and a late season collapse saw them miss out on a top-four finish.
This summer has seen the Arsenal board back their Spanish coach Mikel Arteta to the hilt.
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The club have been busy with the signings of Fabio Vieria, from FC Porto, and Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, both from Manchester City, and they probably come into this match as early favourites.
Movement in the Arsenal build-up
Mikel Arteta is a very modern coach whose style incorporates positional play, similar to that of Pep Guardiola, and aggressive vertical play, similar to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
One of the most important things for Arteta’s side is the way that they build up the play from the back and move through the thirds of the pitch.
Arteta has been intent on expecting his team to play out from the back since he took charge but this concept does not come without risks as players can make mistakes or be caught in possession.
The signing of Zinchenko brings flexibility to Arsenal’s ball progression in the middle third. The Ukrainian winger is comfortable making inside runs and allowing the central midfielders to move outside, as Xhaka does here
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We are likely to see both sides line up in 4-3-3 formations and often when matching up tactically in this manner it can be difficult for the team in possession to create space to move the ball through the thirds.
Arsenal are now in a position to create space with more rotational movement in the midfield.
This will typically come with Zinchenko positioned at left-back as he will generally look to get into positions in the channels or even the central areas as his side are building out from the back.
This can then be combined with the moments from the Swiss international midfielder Granit Xhaka, who has a tendency to move out to the channels to create space and options.
These rotations will make it notably more difficult for the Crystal Palace midfielders to cope with the ball progression from Arsenal.
In deeper areas this season we are likely to see both fullbacks for Arsenal move narrow and in line with the deepest midfielder. This is to allow Arsenal to outnumber the opposition press and make sure that the ball can be progressed forward
Oleksandr Zinchenko is one of the new recruits out to impress this seasonCredit: Getty
In deeper positions, we will also see the fullbacks, likely to be Zinchenko and Ben White in this match, move narrow in order to give passing options and overloads for Arsenal.
This will make it very difficult for Crystal Palace to effectively press and disrupt the Arsenal build-up.
Crystal Palace’s strong spine
Vieira and Crystal Palace have followed sound squad-building logic in that they have built a strong spine to their squad.
This has been further enhanced by the very smart signing of Cheick Doucoure from Lens of France.
Now, we see a spine of Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi as the central midfielders, Doucoure as the deepest midfielder and one of Odsonne Edouard or Jean-Phillipe Mateta in attack.
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Mateta will make aggressive runs behind the defensive line to force the opposition defenders to cover his run and this allows teammates to attack into space. We see this here as Edouard is able to cut inside and attack the space that Mateta has left behind
Mateta, in particular, is a very interesting forward as a lot of his work is done off the ball and his runs and clever movement will be important for Palace in this game.
He can create space for teammates with his willingness to make angled runs away from the ball that either attack into the channels or wide areas or access space behind the defensive line.
These runs are dangerous because Mateta does carry a threat to goal and as such his runs have to be defended.
Palace fans will also be hopeful that we are going to see a full debut for the Malian international midfielder Doucoure.
He is going to play as the deepest midfielder and his ability to read the game and break up play will be key in preventing Arsenal from dominating the central areas of the pitch.
Doucoure, in his final match for Lens, is more than a destructive midfielder and he will position himself at the base of the attack. When in possession in these areas Doucoure can find runners in all areas of the pitch
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Doucoure is more than capable of breaking through the Arsenal press in the midfield either through forward runs as he carries the ball or via his passing which is generally very strong.
With Arsenal likely to play a combination of Thomas Partey and Xhaka in the midfield with Martin Odegaard given more freedom.
The ability of Doucoure to hold the centre of the pitch in this game will be important for Crystal Palace in this game.
Solving a problem like Gabriel Jesus
When the Brazilian international forward Gabriel Jesus completed his move from Manchester City there was a general consensus among fans of the Premier League that this would mean that Arteta would play him in his favoured central striking position for Arsenal.
This was seen as especially important for Arsenal to solve given that Alexandre Lacazette left at the end of last season to return to Lyon.
Last weekend we saw Arsenal demolish the Spanish side Sevilla in the Emirates Cup 6-0 and the movement of Gabriel Jesus, in particular, caught the eye.
Gabriel Jesus still showed a tendency to come out to the left-side to receive the ball in space. In this example he then slipped the ball to Xhaka who was making an intelligent forward run before making an aggressive run into the centre of the area
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In this match, we saw Jesus keep drifting out to the channel on the left side of the pitch with Garbriel Martinelli moving inside.
In these positions, Jesus is a huge threat to take possession of the ball and either link with teammates or drive inside to create a shooting angle.
The fact that Jesus can play as a traditional 9 or as more of a fluid all-round attacking player creates options that will be difficult to defend against for Crystal Palace in this match.
Jesus has pulled out wide to access intelligent space in the wide area. He can receive here and either drive outside the defender or cut inside. This will be very difficult for Palace to defend. We also see once against the positioning of the Arsenal fullbacks at the base of the attack
How Arsenal could line up against Palace
While Anderson and Guehi represent a strong partnership in the centre of the defence for Crystal Palace they will be seriously tested in this match against an Arsenal side who are very fluid in the attack.
What does all this mean?
Arsenal, obviously, will be keen to get off to a winning start so they can convince us all they really are Champions League qualifying material.
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Palace know it is a long season for them and that they are looking for steady progress which might take them nearer Europe.
Realistically, it really could go either way – so probably a draw – but seeing how Arsenal come together around Jesus is slightly more exciting than seeing how Palace’s strong spine work out.
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