‘Wow’: Cesc Fabregas stunned after what he’s heard about Arsenal vs Tottenham
Arsenal beat Tottenham on Sunday in what wasn’t exactly a classic north London derby. Spurs vs Arsenal has been one of the Premier League’s most...
Arsenal beat Tottenham on Sunday in what wasn’t exactly a classic north London derby.
Spurs vs Arsenal has been one of the Premier League’s most exciting fixtures in recent years with goals galore being scored in these derby matches.
However, on Sunday, it was a classic 1-0 Arsenal win on the day.
Arsenal lined up with a depleted squad on the day as Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard were missing due to suspension and injury respectively.
This meant that Arsenal had to utilise a makeshift midfield pairing of Jorginho and Thomas Partey, and that midfield composition had to operate differently.
Indeed, Arsenal were very direct against Tottenham. In fact, Jorginho and Partey only passed to one another once during this game.
Speaking on the Planet Premier League Podcast, Cesc Fabregas has been discussing how the Arsenal midfield operated in this game, and he was shocked to hear how little Partey and Jorginho interacted on the pitch.
Cesc Fabregas shocked by Arsenal midfield
Fabregas spoke about how Jorginho and Partey played alongside one another.
“Against City I don’t think he will be full on to press. Can they be more direct? Yes, because they have two fast strikers plus Havertz who is now in a good moment. Dave just mentioned that between Partey and Jorginho there was only one pass between each other, this shocks me. Wow, I didn’t realise or expect these kind of numbers,” Fabregas said.
Arsenal’s gameplan worked
Arsenal’s performance against Tottenham wasn’t exactly a classic Mikel Arteta showing, but the Gunners got the job done.
Indeed, as a student of Pep Guardiola, you’d expect Arteta’s teams to be largely focused on midfield possession and short passing, but against Tottenham they played a much more direct style.
Arteta showed at the weekend that there’s more than one way to skin a cat in the Premier League, and they won a massive game while playing a very different style of play.
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