It had been a long time coming — eight months and 16 days, to be more precise — since Mikel Arteta had fielded the midfield trio of Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Declan Rice together. The 5-0 win over Chelsea on Tuesday was the first time he had done so since Arsenal’s Community Shield win over Manchester City in August.
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Those three players had started games together this season, but not as a three-man midfield.
Manager Arteta moved Partey to right-back for the first three league games and Rice took the holding role, while Kai Havertz played as a left No 8. Before Havertz’s surprising arrival from Chelsea last June, the consensus was that Arsenal’s midfield for 2023-24 would consist of Odegaard, Partey and then West Ham captain Rice. Instead, it has taken until April 23 for that to happen — but it was worth the wait as Arteta’s team gathered vital momentum before Sunday’s north London derby away to Tottenham.
Chelsea did not come to the Emirates last night to contain Arsenal, or, in the absence of 20-goal Cole Palmer, carrying any real threat. It was a game that promised space to work in, while allowing this trio to dominate.
Leandro Trossard’s left-footed finish to open the scoring early on was superb but what took place before was equally important.
Partey’s biggest strength during his time at Arsenal has been how he progresses the ball from his deep midfield position, while one of Rice’s main qualities is his ball-carrying. Therefore, a first-time Partey pass putting Rice on his way to drive into the Chelsea box before setting up Trossard should not have been too surprising.
Arsenal’s midfield had created a platform for their success in the game, but not just with that moment.
Partey had a particularly impressive first half. Alongside his positive passing, he worked well defensively to recover loose balls deep in midfield as well as start attacks by intercepting passes further forward. The 30-year-old has been used sparingly in the past six weeks (one start and five substitute appearances since early March) after returning from groin and thigh injuries, and this was his best performance by far.
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“We thought it was a really good game for Thomas to come back,” Arteta said. “He looks like he’s in rhythm — he trained really well in the past few days. With the players they (Chelsea) have, we thought it was the right call to make. He had a great performance. He was really important for the team.”
Since his return, Partey has shown glimpses of that passing ability, notably linking with Odegaard in three-pass moves which made Arsenal much more vertical in their play — a hallmark of their attack last season.
The first example came against City at the Etihad on March 31, with Trossard found on the break, below.
An almost identical move was fashioned at home to Luton Town three days later, with Havertz the target this time.
In these games, however, Partey still looked off the pace physically. That changed against against Chelsea.
Even more promising was how this impacted others in the team. The return of Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back provided a similar 3-2 setup (Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes; Partey, Tomiyasu) in Arsenal’s build-up to last season’s. The only difference is that Tomiyasu took Oleksandr Zinchenko’s place, but he was just as effective.
It allowed Odegaard to stay higher rather than coming deep, which made for one of his most productive performances of the season. The Arsenal and Norway captain has been playmaking at an unbelievably consistent level since December, but the eight chances he created on Tuesday night was his highest tally for a single Premier League match. For context, Mesut Ozil is the only Arsenal player to create more chances in a Premier League game in the past eight seasons (12, against Sunderland in 2017).
Able to receive in the right half-space early on, the triangle of passes between himself, White and Bukayo Saka started to blossom. Already creating openings via these avenues in the first half, it was to his and the team’s benefit that they were then capitalised on in the second half.
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The build-up to White’s second goal, Arsenal’s fifth, illustrated the plan perfectly. Odegaard was the deepest midfielder, while Rice was their most advanced at the start of the move. By the end, Odegaard had made up the ground and was playing the ball over the top for White to finish fortuitously.
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Aside from claiming his seventh league assist of the season, Rice had other bright moments in the final third while defensively he was as alert as ever.
As a midfield trio, Odegaard, Partey and Rice complemented each other extremely well. The natural thought would be that they should be Arsenal’s first-choice midfield for the final four games of the season. Despite that, Arteta highlighted his embarrassment of midfield riches.
“Look at the run we are in and the points we have,” he said. “We have missed Thomas since August, and he’s a big player for us, but that has given chances to other players. For Declan to play as a No 6 and then rediscover him as an 8. Playing Kai as a No 9, too, and the contribution of Jorgi (Jorginho) has been phenomenal. The team has resources and has to find different ways of winning, acting and interchanging their qualities.
“When you play Declan, Kai and Martin, and when you play Emile (Smith Rowe) in there (it is different) — and when you play Jorgi as well, because we’ve won big games with him in there. It depends on the game, on the state (of play), on the opponent. It’s great, because everyone feels really important. That’s really important.”
This was a well-timed addition to Arteta’s arsenal.
They have prepared yet another way to set up in the closing stages of the season.
Their margin for error in the title race is minimal with City’s two games in hand, but this could help build and maintain positive momentum, especially with away trips to Tottenham and Manchester United to come in their next three fixtures.
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(Top photo: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
