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Chance after chance, Arsenal’s varied attack stormed Brighton & Hove Albion’s defence.
“The understanding between the attacking players today was superb,” said Arsenal’s manager Mikel Arteta after an impressive 3-0 victory away to Roberto De Zerbi’s side. “They had real purpose and connection, and a lot of clarity where to attack.”
Purpose, connection and clarity are three words that can easily be linked to Arsenal’s chance-creation from set pieces, their knack for playing the ball behind Brighton’s defence, attacking on the transition, or through wide passing combinations in the final third.
On the latter, the most evident Arsenal combinations are down the right side through the link between Ben White, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard. However, that wasn’t the only passing combination that dizzied the Brighton defence as Arteta’s side overloaded the wide areas in an attempt to cut through their opponents.
First, Declan Rice and Odegaard overloaded together on different occasions in the first half, either down the right…
… or the left.
In this example, they both combine down the left side but only the final pass fails them.
Initially, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Rice are in their regular positions, and are in a three-versus-three scenario against Tariq Lamptey, Simon Adingra and Carlos Baleba, with Odegaard near the D and tracked by Pascal Gross.
As Jesus plays the ball to Zinchenko…
… Odegaard makes a run towards the left side and Gross signals to Brighton’s right centre-back, Jan Paul van Hecke, to pick up the Norwegian.
Zinchenko spots Odegaard’s movement and plays the ball into his captain’s path…
… which draws the attention of Baleba and allows Rice to make a run in behind him. Odegaard finds the England midfielder’s run with a one-touch pass…
… but Rice’s low cross is cleared by Gross.
Another variation of Arsenal’s wide overloads against Brighton came from Jorginho — whether that was on the right side to aid Saka, White and Odegaard…
… or the left side to help Zinchenko, Rice and Jesus.
In this example, Jakub Moder drops to support Adingra, with Brighton’s right-back, Lamptey, off the field for treatment. After moving the ball towards the left side, Jorginho roams there to overload that area and combines with Zinchenko and Jesus…
… leaving the Ivory Coast international Adingra chasing shadows between three players.
Meanwhile, Rice’s positioning pins Baleba…
… and allows Jesus to find Jorginho in this pocket of space.
On the other side, Odegaard is lurking near the D, with Gross keeping an eye on him…
… but as Jorginho receives the ball and combines with Rice, the Norwegian makes a run towards the left side…
… and tries to attack the overloaded area, but Jorginho fails to find his run.
In the second half, it was more of the same but with another player providing the overload.
Here, Kai Havertz moves towards the right wing, with Gross, Pervis Estupinan and Julio Enciso focusing on Saka, Odegaard and White.
In an attempt to win the ball back, Gross tries to press William Saliba while blocking the passing lane to Saka and, behind him, Enciso and Estupinan continue tracking Odegaard and White.
Havertz’s overload pays dividends when he switches positions with White, whose movement pins Brighton’s left-back and frees the Germany forward. Odegaard then signals to Saliba to play the ball to the free man…
… and the centre-back finds Havertz in space…
… who crosses the ball towards the far post, only for Jesus’ header to miss the target.
In another example, Arsenal combine down the right side, with Jorginho and Havertz moving towards that area to support. As the ball is being played back to Jorginho, Havertz drifts away from Lewis Dunk to overload the right side…
… and the Brighton centre-back hesitates to follow because of Saka’s threat inside the pitch. Jorginho’s fast decision-making doesn’t give Dunk time to think, and the Italy midfielder quickly finds Havertz with a pass through Brighton’s left side…
… before the forward plays the ball back to Odegaard on the edge of the penalty area…
… and the playmaker’s shot is saved by Bart Verbruggen.
In the lead-up to Arsenal’s second goal, Jorginho is closer to the right side for rest-defence purposes, and to help with the passing combinations if needed.
This comes in handy when he quickly wins the ball back to halt Brighton’s counter-attack and sustain Arsenal’s attacking threat. Jorginho, who is pressed by Moder, then plays the ball to White…
… and continues his movement forward as the right-back squares the ball to Odegaard. Due to their positions out of possession, Gross and Enciso focus on Odegaard and White, which is why Jorginho’s run catches the Paraguayan forward by surprise…
… and allows Jorginho to attack the space freely. Odegaard then finds his run…
… before Jorginho sets up Havertz, who scores to double Arsenal’s lead.
The speed of Arsenal’s passing combinations, the quick decision-making and the well-timed rotations are features of this side’s attack in the wide areas but when you add in the overloads, it gives them another edge.
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