Why moving Havertz back into midfield backfired on Arteta

Alex Keble analyses how Aston Villa dealt a major blow to Arsenal‘s title aspirations with a 2-0 victory at Emirates Stadium.

If Arsenal do not win the Premier League this season then Villa, the only team to beat them twice, will be the ones to blame; Unai Emery, of all people, will have done the most damage.

Villa richly deserved the three points for an immaculate performance, from digging deep in the first half to flipping the match on its head and dominating the second.

It is a tactical victory for Emery, but it was just as much a tactical defeat for Mikel Arteta, whose team selection and formation proved to be too attacking.

The man at the centre of it all, for better and worse, was Kai Havertz: the key to Arsenal’s good first half and the symbol of Arsenal’s collapse in the second.

Havertz’s clever positioning key to early joy

Arsenal were on top in the first half, pinning Villa into a low block that made it difficult for the visitors to counter-attack and ensuring the hosts were in control.

The chances were few and far between, and indeed Villa went as close as Arsenal to taking the lead, but there is no doubt Villa were on the ropes – thanks predominantly to the surprise use of Havertz as a No 8.

Villa, in their flat 4-4-2 shape, just didn’t have the numbers to cope with Havertz’s runs in the left-hand half-space, and with Leandro Trossard pulling Ezri Konsa out wide, the German consistently found a gap to drive into.

In this example, Havertz is put clean through on goal.

It happened over and over again, with John McGinn unsure of how to block off the space, and by half-time Arteta must have thought the goal, via Havertz (circled in black), was coming.

Downside of playing Havertz as a No 8 emerges in second half

After the interval, Villa clamped down on that area, with McGinn (circled in black) dropping deeper to become part of the back five, blocking Havertz’s space.

But that isn’t why Villa won. They did so because once they started passing the ball out from the back and gaining a foothold, the problem with playing Havertz in midfield began to show.

Havertz and Declan Rice formed a two-man midfield when Villa had the ball, which is frankly too light to defend the spaces, especially with Morgan Rogers so effective at dropping to receive the ball between the lines.

Havertz completed one tackle and zero interceptions, the same as Jorginho managed in just 20 minutes and considerably fewer than Youri Tielemans (four tackles, one interception) and McGinn (three tackles, three interceptions).