Why Arsenal's lack of a fixed identity worked to Unai Emery's advantage in crucial win over Chelsea

Emery started with a diamond in midfield and papered over some of the cracks that exposed Arsenal's lack of creativity during the defeat against West Ham last week

Starter for ten. What is Unai Emery’s style of play? His philosophy, his identity, his jam? There are plenty of answers out there: no fewer than 6,280,000 million according to a quick Google search. You would expect at least a few of those articles, blogs and videos to offer some degree of illumination and yet, seven months into Emery’s Arsenal tenure, it is still difficult to always identity exactly what he is attempting to do.

Sometimes, that is to Arsenal’s detriment. Across town last weekend, for example, Arsenal strolled around ineffectually against West Ham until conceding the game’s only goal, before Emery decided to roll the dice and give another formation a go. It didn’t make much difference. But sometimes, such as on this unexpectedly straightforward evening at the Emirates, that tactical and philosophical flexibility allows Arsenal to tailor-make a gameplay specific to an opponent, identifying and exploiting weakness.

This evening’s trick? An unfamiliar midfield diamond, perhaps one inspired by Mauricio Pochettino, with Aaron Ramsey stationed just behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, and Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira covering the wings. It was a gamble, particularly at the end of a long, draining week of transfer malaise and boardroom turmoil, during which Arsenal’s post Arsene Wenger identity had been called into question. But it paid off spectacularly. Arsenal were brilliant and this 2-0 win keeps their top-four hopes very much alive.

Emery’s decision to deploy a formation he has not started with before this season, in a game of this magnitude, was all the more striking given the identity of the other tracksuited man anxiously prowling around his technical area. Maurizio Sarri’s similarly stop-start Chelsea revolution is at an identical point to Emery’s, yet is drastically different in its execution. Unlike Emery, Sarri is attempting to engineer an identity through repetition: the same system, played week in, week out. But that can make his team predictable, prosaic and toothless.

Arsenal’s plan this evening was a simple one and far from unique: prevent Jorginho from pulling the strings. Step forward Ramsey, who spent the majority of this match chasing not the ball but Jorginho himself, with the rabid, wide-eyed glee of a 20 stone American footballer preparing to sack an increasingly-cowed quarterback. With the Italian so effectively muzzled, the midfield battle was won. And with the midfield battle won, Arsenal could enjoy themselves.

Their attacking players shone. Particularly Lacazette, who gave his side the lead with a fine finish having nimbly tip-toed his way around Chelsea’s flailing defenders, Torreria jumping out of the way of his eventual near-post shot with all the agility of a gymnast. Aubameyang was also a perpetual snarling menace and should have scored, given some of the chances which came his way, with captain Laurent Koscielny the unlikely man to wrap up the win.

The very fact that Lacazette and Aubameyang have developed and refined such an enjoyably old-fashioned strike partnership — the pair have an impressive 22 Premier League goals between them this season — is, again, testament to Emery’s pragmatism and willingness to repeatedly question his own ideas. Arsenal began this season with a 4-2-3-1, with either Aubameyang shoved out wide or Lacazette left to stew on the bench. But given the pair’s undeniable chemistry, Emery was quick to abandon that idea and start again.

Sometimes, it feels as though pragmatism is something of a dirty word in the Premier League. And whenever one of Europe’s highly-rated young coaches decides to test himself in the gloriously madcap blood and thunder of the Premier League, we discerning football fans know exactly what to be watching for, as evidence that the club are in the throes of a full-scale revolution. Passing it out from the back, instead of lumping it long. A high defensive line. Pressing aggressively, particularly in their opponent’s final third. Flexibility in midfield. Fast counter attacks. The good stuff.

Unai Emery sprang a tactical surprise (Getty)

But it is also important for managers to experiment, to test out new ideas, systems and combinations. At his press conference on Thursday, Emery provided us all with a little clue of what was to come, pointedly stressing that “our best performance can come with different systems — it depends on the opposition and depends also on our players”.

Against Chelsea, Emery had the bravery to try something new, and as a result the club are once again in touching distance of a place in the top four. This victory showed Arsenal's lack of identity is not purely a weakness, but also a strength.