David Pleat's tactical report: Arsenal v Aston Villa

Abou Diaby underlines Arsenal's second-half superiority by scoring the third goal against Aston Villa. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

How Aston Villa were set up

Martin O'Neill's early-season system was a 4-3-3 because he did not have enough faith in any of his possible midfield pairings. Steve Sidwell and Nigel Reo-Coker have since given way, with James Milner moved inside to utilise his technical strengths and energy and Stewart Downing smoothly introduced on the left. Aston Villa stuck with that four-man centre here making this, in effect, a 4-4-2 taking on Arsenal's 4-1-2-3, though the key would be whether the visitors' midfield would be able to cope with Arsenal's almost inevitable dominance of possession.

What was Villa's gameplan?

What did Arsenal do to break free?

O'Neill asked his players to pressure the ball in midfield, content that by keeping two forwards upfield, Villa had made certain that there would always be a chance to hold up Arsenal's back four. In the first period the visitors had to cope with Arsenal playing a sharper, smoother game but they comfortably protected the edge of their box, with Stilian Petrov always a shade deeper than Milner and more protective of his two central defenders. When Arsenal had the ball, Downing and Ashley Young dropped very narrow to help contain Arsène Wenger's midfielders and track and stifle their play. O'Neill would have wanted more involvement from his front two in terms of showing for the ball out of defence, but he would have been encouraged by the pressure exerted on their hosts. Wenger turned to Cesc Fábregas and, six minutes later, to Theo Walcott to break the deadlock though his side had been steadily threatening as the hour approached.Arsenal had upped the pace in an attempt to break free of Villa's web. Andrey Arshavin, outmuscled too often in the first period, began to meet the ball rather than wait for it, and offered himself at better angles, while Walcott held wide to keep Stephen Warnock off the cover and open up more space. With Abou Diaby marauding forward more aggressively, Fábregas, adding a touch of class and imagination, duly began to find the holes to exploit. As Aston Villa chased an equaliser, Arsenal used Walcott's pace to break and their ability to raise the tempo in the second period to counter Villa's first‑half closing was admirable. Their clean, swift, angled passing subjected the visitors to a lesson: good possession is always key.