Tactical Analysis: Arsenal's 3-4-3

Mikel Arteta has had a promising start to life as Arsenal manager since leaving his post as Pep Guardiola's assistant at Manchester City and taking over on December 20, 2019. Most notably, Arsenal have massively improved in games against their top 6 rivals. After starting with a 4-2-3-1, Arteta has switched to a 3-4-3 and has stuck to it.

He won the FA Cup with a 3-4-3 in a run that saw Arsenal defeat Manchester City out in the semi-finals and beat Chelsea in the Final. He also led Arsenal to victories over Liverpool and Manchester United in the league, although Arsenal still finished in 8th place, their worst league finish in 25 years.

Despite a fairly impressive record against his top 6 rivals, Arteta has yet to prove he can consistently beat the bottom 14 teams in the Premier League, teams that sit back and remain compact and attempt to hit Arsenal on the counterattack.

Arteta's 3-4-3