Unai Emery’s midfield wall is redefining Arsenal

Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka have formed a midfield wall that is redefining Arsenal under Unai Emery’s management.

Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool on Saturday isn’t an obvious sign of progress. After all, the Gunners drew the same fixture in the Premier League last season, a 3-3 stalemate under former manager Arsene Wenger.

Yet look past the result and a close inspection of the performance will show something markedly different about this Arsenal side. Specifically, these Gunners are becoming a tougher nut to crack on the watch of head coach Unai Emery.

Arsenal look more difficult for big clubs to break down because of the wall Emery is building at the heart of midfield. The process started with signing Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria back in the summer.

He’s taken his time to get used to life in England’s top flight, with Emery adopting a cautious approach about integrating him into the team.

Torreira is a regular now, though, and he is rapidly becoming indispensable in Arsenal’s best starting XI. The Uruguay international’s importance comes from his combination of tenacity and technique, qualities he consistently showed in Serie A:

Torreira’s knack for chasing and harrying opponents and breaking up play with well-timed tackles has eased the burden on midfield partner Granit Xhaka. Less a natural destroyer than Torreira, Xhaka is more accomplished on the ball thanks to a varied range of passes usually delivered from a sweet left foot.

What Xhaka can’t do is tackle cleanly. Instead, the man Wenger signed in 2016 too often makes reckless and late challenges. Thanks to Torreira, Xhaka can now concentrate on sitting back and waiting to intercept errant passes rather than lunging into tackles he won’t win.

With Torreira hunting and scrapping for possession, while Xhaka screens behind him, Arsenal have the ideal complementary tandem fortifying midfield. They formed a wall Liverpool couldn’t break down:

Trying to bypass the Gunners’ two-man block in the middle was no easy task for the Reds. Their most-used ploy was to push the ball wide.

Releasing pace in the flanks isn’t a bad idea if Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are in your team. However, exploiting width isn’t what Liverpool do best.

Instead, the Reds’ principal attackers are most effective when they move from out to in. Overloading central areas with pace off the wings and fluid rotation of positions is Liverpool’s calling card in the final third.

The problem was Salah, Mane and Roberto Firmino couldn’t combine in central areas as seamlessly as they usually do because Torreira or Xhaka were usually around to pinch possession.

While their numbers against Liverpool were excellent, they were no fluke. Xhaka and Torreira have been dominant ball-winners since the start of the season:

Having two enforcers gives Arsenal a numbers advantage in the middle. They also create a natural defensive block.

The block comprises two center-backs protected by the central midfielders in front of them. This shape affords obvious advantages to Emery’s team, not just defensively but in an attacking sense.

A dense, central block means full-backs can afford to play higher and maintain their positions out wide. Hector Bellerin has thrived because of this since Emery took over, while Sead Kolasinac caused Liverpool a host of problems from left-back.

Having midfield secured by two holders also means the forward players have more freedom to rotate. Creative types such as Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan aren’t burdened by defensive responsibilities, namely tracking back, because there’s enough cover behind them.

Emery’s midfield wall means his 4-2-3-1 formation is more akin to a 4-2-4. High pressing in wide areas by the full-backs, as well as pressure applied along the front by strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, means Arsenal are better defending from the front.

The catalyst for a change this significant comes from the security offered by the Xhaka-Torreira double act. Their success is redefining the Gunners amid the transition from the Wenger era.

Arsenal were more open and free-flowing with the Frenchman in charge. Creativity was usually prized above mettle, a tradeoff embodied by the type of midfielders who featured during the latter years of Wenger’s reign.

You only need to consider Aaron Ramsey’s situation to see how this is changing on Emery’s watch. Ramsey has been told he can leave on a free transfer at the end of the season, a bold move given the Welshman’s flair and eye for goal.

The decision makes sense, though, in the context of the type of midfield Emery is building. Ramsey is a forward-thinking midfielder who is at his best when breaking from deep areas with incisive box-to-box runs.

He’s not aggressive or aware enough to offer much cover defensively. Nor is he particularly effective when played further up the pitch and having his running power taken away.

Emery’s ill-fated attempts to make Ramsey a No. 10 prove the latter point.

Emery wanting two destructive players who can protect his center-backs and control possession in a steady manner is why Ramsey is being let go.

It’s also why Arsenal are becoming tougher to beat in the first season without Wenger in 22 years.

Formidable midfield barriers used to be the hallmark of Wenger’s great teams. Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira underpinned the double winners of 1997-98. Vieira and Gilberto Silva were the bedrock of the 2003-04 Invincibles.

Torreira and Xhaka aren’t anywhere close to these two partnerships yet. But the early signs are promising they can form a wall strong enough to finally make Arsenal more competitive in the big games.