Watford may be bottom of the standings and just gone through a change in management but it would not be the brightest move to underestimate them, they are more than capable of getting a result against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon at Vicarage Road.
The dangers they pose are numerous and Arsenal will have to be fully focussed and on top of their game, otherwise, they will get punished.
Frustration
Arsenal must avoid getting frustrated, the new Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores is very defensive and you can be certain that he will set his team up to frustrate Arsenal at every opportunity. Arsenal must be patient and not try to force the game.
Counter-Attack
Because Watford is likely to be defensive they will be looking to utilise the counter-attack at every opportunity, the defence and midfield must be aware of this and in particular, Kolasinac and Maitland-Niles, those too cannot be caught out of position when venturing upfield.
Aerial football
I fully expect Watford to get the ball high into the Arsenal penalty area as often as possible, especially if they start with Danny Welbeck but even without the former Gunner they will be wanting to put Sokratis and Luiz under as much pressure as possible.
Midfield
The key area and Watford do have some decent midfielders, it will be a hard-fought battle for sure but Arsenal has the players that can control the middle of the park. Lose the middle and it becomes very difficult to win the game.
Physical game
Expect Watford to be very physical, they will be looking to unsettle Arsenal at every opportunity especially against Arsenal’s flair players like Nicolas Pepe and Dani Ceballos, in fact, I am certain they will be targetting those two in particular in a sort of baptism of fire.
‘If you compare that with Liverpool and City, they are playing 80 per cent on their own philosophy and way to play. Arsenal can do that more. If you are the coach of Arsenal, you should play to your own strengths and not adjust so much to the strength of the opponents, because a top six team should play to their own strengths.’
I don’t like RVP much, but I think he’s spot on here. Arsenal shouldn’t be overthinking a match against Watford. Play what suits US best, if Emery even knows what that is.
Perfect advice for Emery
A three-CB formation could also work tomorrow, because Lampard used it against Wolves today and it worked well
But I’d prefer if Emery has a fixed system like Guardiola and Klopp, because this is his second season and he has many high quality players now
A three CB formation is an automatic loss for us because our players are just not good enough to play that formation.
Remember that Wolves also used a three back formation
I think contrary to many opinion we are as strong as Liverpool and city but we have a manager who has no clue on how to organize his defence,he knew our defense was not good enough when got the job but he has failed to improve us.You can not progress with a mediocre manager first things first it doesn’t matter who you buy!No excuse why arsenal defense is worse than that of mid-table teams.
OT
Thank goodness Man City are losing.I can’t stand Pep and his style of play.
Only a matter of time before Liverpool are also beaten thus preserving our unbeaten record.
Oh ffs i can hear all the Liverpool fans from my living room ?
oh dear, poor sue, sorry to hear you have to put up with all that lark. offer it all up , maybe tomorrow it will be our turn to sing .
I bloody well hope so, Paddy!!
Think I’ll give MOTD a miss tonight ?
With our defense and loose midfield we might be done for in this match.Last season they were the better team imo even with the red card and deserved a point from the match.
We need Torreira and Pepe to come to the part I the next match else it’s going to be same old
Am sensing we can move level on point with Man City.
Keep faith and support the boys.
So impress with Norwich supporters at the start of the game. With many of their first team players out, they were very upbeat even against City? It then told on the players. Arsenal fans would have been thinking of a 0-10 drubbing by City. My Arsenal all the way.