Now that the international break is over, football fans across the country will be rejoicing to once again see their teams take to the field. This weekend is gameweek nine and the opponents that face Arsenal are newly promoted Watford. The Gunners have been in red-hot form during the international break with many of their players scoring for their nations.
Watford have had a fairly steady start to their Premier League return and as such currently sit tenth in the league table. Watford held their own against the likes of Swansea City and Everton earlier this season and weren’t completely brushed aside by league leaders Manchester City; clearly they are not a team to be taken lightly.
The main man for Watford this season has been Odion Ighalo. The powerful Nigerian is their top scorer and is also up there with the top scorers in the league. He boasts an impressive 25 goals in 46 appearances for Quique Sanchez Flores’ side and is clearly the man who Arsenal must stop if they hope to win the tie this weekend. Ighalo’s main assets are his jumping and heading. He isn’t particularly skilful on the ball and so in order to score goals he requires balls crossed into him or simply to out muscle the defender in front of him. With such a physically dominating forward it is crucial that the Arsenal defenders don’t give him an inch. Gabriel and Per Mertesacker must defend against him as a pair, backing each other up in the tackle and cutting out any highballs that are aimed for him. In the same respect, Francis Coquelin will be vital in stopping the Watford forward. He isn’t afraid to tackle hard, which is exactly the style of defence that will stop Ighalo from scoring. If Coquelin can crunch Ighalo even once this weekend, it should be enough to see him become far more cautious in challenging for the ball.
Etienne Capoue is another Watford player who Arsenal must be wary of. Having been a potential transfer target for the Gunners a couple of seasons ago before his move to rivals Tottenham, Capoue is well-known by the north London team. The 27-year-old is a solid defensive midfielder who isn’t afraid to let other teams know of his presence. Similarly to Coquelin he is strong in the tackle but unlike his fellow Frenchman, he also has the height to dominate headers. Clearly he will be a rock in midfield for Flores’ side and he must be dealt with. Players like Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil will need to have their passing game on point to cancel out his physical approach to the game. Much like they overran the Manchester United midfield with pace and precise passing, these two will need to make sure that they can take the ball past Capoue in order to nullify his presence on the pitch; after all, he can’t mark them both!
In terms of attack, the Gunners don’t really need to change much from their approach at Manchester United. They must play quickly with decisive passes and controlled finishing. With many of their attackers like Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Joel Campbell having scored for their countries while on international duty, Arsene Wenger will be hoping that they can carry on their form and help bag all three points for the Gunners.
Should Arsenal beat Watford this weekend then they will really put the strain onto current league leaders Manchester City who have only a two point lead over Wenger’s men.
However, with Bayern Munich approaching next week in the UEFA Champions League, Wenger may be tempted to rest a couple of his big names to help them prepare for what is undoubtedly their hardest fixture so far this season. This should present opportunities to certain players like club captain Mikel Arteta and youngster Joel Campbell who haven’t featured too much for Arsenal so far this season. Either way, the Gunners should be aiming for a win this weekend and assuming all goes to plan, there isn’t any reason why they won’t.
