When Arsenal swept Chelsea aside so comfortably at the Emirates in January in the Premier League, it was Laurent Koscielny who walked away with the man of the match award. But it could be argued that there was another player in red who was the key ingredient in Arsenal’s London derby success, although his contribution was perhaps not as tangible.
That player was Aaron Ramsey, who Unai Emery deployed at the tip of his midfield diamond against the Blues.
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Ramsey didn’t score either of Arsenal’s goals, and he didn’t set either of them up, but his importance to the home side’s victory was huge nonetheless.
Arsenal was dominant at the Emirates, and having taken a two-goal lead into the break thanks to strikes from Alexandre Lacazette and Koscielny, the Gunners never looked like they would surrender their lead. Chelsea ended the game having just one shot on target, and a key reason for that was the role Ramsey played in stopping their supply line at source.
And that source is, of course, Jorginho.
The game in January was played around the time when it had become clear that if you denied Jorginho time and space to dictate the play, then Chelsea would struggle to open teams up. The Italian midfielder is the fulcrum of the Chelsea side; the player Maurizio Sarri looks to in order to get his team moving up the pitch with his incisive passing.
But whenever he has faced an opponent who has marked him tightly and disrupted his rhythm, then both he and Chelsea have struggled.
Ramsey did that perfectly in January. Operating at the tip of the midfield diamond, Ramsey did not stop harassing Jorginho from the first whistle until he was eventually replaced with 23 minutes remaining having run himself into the ground. By then, though, he had done his job, and Arsenal was well on its way to three points.
Unfortunately for Arsenal and Emery, they do not have Ramsey to call upon on Wednesday in Baku, where Arsenal and Chelsea meet in the Europa League final.
The Wales international’s injury leaves Emery with a big decision to make, especially as he is also without Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has had to stay in England due to safety concerns.
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Tactically, Emery got it spot-on at the Emirates. Arsenal choked the life out of Chelsea in midfield, and having got themselves in front, they were never going to be pegged back.
But without Ramsey and Mkhitaryan, the Gunners will not have things so easy in Azerbaijan. There are plenty who say Mkhitaryan’s absence should not be considered as a major loss, given the Armenian’s inconsistent form this season. But if Emery was planning on replicating the same tactics he used against Chelsea in north London just four months ago, then Mkhitaryan may well have been in line to start in the No. 10 role.
That is the position in which we have seen Mesut Ozil operate for the past few weeks, including in the semifinal second-leg victory in Valencia. But Mkhitaryan’s work rate and better discipline would have perhaps made him a better bet to sit close to Jorginho and ensure he is not given the freedom to get his head up and dictate the pace of the game.
So Emery must now decide whether to go with Ozil behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lacazette, or to use someone else in that role.
In January, the Spaniard went with a flat back four at the Emirates and then a midfield diamond behind the two strikers. It’s unlikely he will use that formation in Baku, with Emery now preferring a 3-4-1-2 system.
Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka will almost certainly start in front of the centerbacks, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Sead Kolasinac providing the width from the wing-back positions.
It just leaves that one advanced midfield role needing to be filled. If Emery does not trust Ozil enough, then Alex Iwobi could be an option. He would certainly provide the work rate that his coach would demand, but he would not offer the sort of quality in terms of service to the strikers that Ozil would from that central position.
It’s a big conundrum for Emery; one he must get right if he wants to get his hands on the Europa League trophy for a fourth time.
