The first of two all-English European cup finals will take place tomorrow night, as Unai Emery's Arsenal meet Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea in the decider for this season's Europa League crown. The winner of the match will likely have his debut season perceived as a success, whereas the loser may have to suffer from a summer of discontent.
Interestingly, considering the Premier League affair, this match-up will be the third time this season that the two teams have faced off. The first contest was won by Sarri, with the second then being secured by Emery. The upcoming third meeting could effectively be understood as the conclusive fixture, but given the two previous meetings, what has been learnt so far ahead of the final?
Chelsea 3-2 Arsenal
This match was arguably one of the most entertaining of the season, but there was an underlying reason for this. The fixture occurred in the second gameweek, at the very beginning of the campaign, and it was clearly evident that two new coaches were in charge, both striving to instill fresh ideas in their new roles.
From Sarri's perspective, he opted for his favoured 4-3-3 system, which he's been working to integrate for the whole of the season. Emery on the other hand, selected 4-2-3-1, shown below, which he'd also utilised one week earlier versus Manchester City.
Unlike Sarri, the Arsenal boss has developed a reputation across the course of the season for being proactive in regard to tactical adjustments. If a tweak is needed, or a new formation entirely has to be employed, then Emery will be quick to make such changes.
Notably, despite losing the match at Stamford Bridge, Emery kept the same formation from start to finish, which suggests that he was relatively happy with what he saw, and rightly so, at least in an attacking sense.
According to Expected Goals (xG), Arsenal appeared to deserve at least a draw, with 2.14 xG posted compared to Chelsea's 2.05. Emery's side accumulated more xG than Sarri's, despite Chelsea having eight more attempts. This is simply because Arsenal's chances were a lot easier to score, and considerably more clear-cut.
Emery's team achieved this by largely playing on the vacant space behind Jorginho. Sarri's team are proactive without the ball and aim to press the opposing team so that the ball can be regained, and Jorginho plays a key role in this, by vacating his deeper position often to instigate the press.
However, one critical downside is that if Chelsea's press is bypassed, there's a sizeable gap between the midfield and the defence. Whenever Arsenal managed to quickly play through Chelsea, they would drive towards the byline and use cutbacks to exploit the hole that Jorginho had left, shown below.
Offensively, Chelsea attempted nine unlikely shots from outside the box, shown below, compared to Arsenal's four.
Sarri's team did score three, though, but they largely came as a result of individual quality, and mistakes from Arsenal's part, such as the example pictured below.
In the graphic, Arsenal are playing with an excessively high line, but the team fail to pressurise the opposing man in possession, and he plays a simple pass over the top for Alvaro Morata to collect and score from.
Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea
The second meeting happened three months later, with the ideas and principles held by either manager having been reinforced further over a longer period of time.
Despite Arsenal's strong performance in the previous clash, Emery moved to adapt to the opposition by employing a midfield diamond. Sarri, as expected, used his preferred 4-3-3, shown below, but with Eden Hazard as a centre forward this time, given Morata's dip.
This match took place during a period of scrutiny for Sarri, as doubt had began to emerge as a result of the team's fall from grace after strong early season form.
Arsenal won the match 2-0, and although both goals came from set-pieces, the open play proficiency demonstrated by Emery's team was highly encouraging.
The crucial tweak that the Spaniard had imposed was the midfield diamond, as it permitted Aaron Ramsey to man-mark Jorginho, shown below, who had received plenty of criticism in the media.
By this stage of the campaign, it was clear that Chelsea had a reliance on Jorginho to build the play, particularly in deeper areas. Emery recognised this and forced Chelsea to build without him, and with Hazard now at the other end of the pitch as a centre forward, the team struggled to escape their own half.
Arsenal were aggressive without the ball, and with Jorginho uninvolved, the Gunners forced the Blues into countless errors, as they repetitively tried to build, but failed. The xG for this contest painted an accurate picture, with 1.23 for Arsenal, and 0.72 for Chelsea, and Sarri's side didn't manage a single shot on target.
'Emery-ball' vs 'Sarri-ball'
Ultimately, both contests this season have been very different. The first meeting involved mistakes, and two new regimes in the early stages of development, and although Arsenal seemed to exploit a weakness, Chelsea had the superior players, and were more clinical.
The second time around, Arsenal again exploited Chelsea tactically, but in a different manner to the first match. Sarri's team appeared to struggle as a result of Arsenal's intensity, and Jorginho's influence was nullified.
It remains to be seen how the upcoming final will transpire, but based on this season, Emery's adjusting style appears to have worked well against Sarri's methodical approach, particularly in relation to Jorginho. However, it's reasonable to suggest that Arsenal have more error-prone players, and Chelsea have the best on the pitch in Hazard, which suggests a tight affair.
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