Arsenal's start of the season was horrendous with 2 loss in 2 matches against Man City and Chelsea. Along came win in 3rd and 4th week when they faced West Ham and Cardiff respectively.

Now comes the game away from home with Newcastle. Benitez as we know wants his team to defend well and breakout with a counter attack.

Arsenal players are struggling to adapt to the tactics of new boss Unai Emery. Emery is usually using 4-3-3 in his previous 4 games where Benitez loves to use variation of 4-4-2, 4-5-1 or 5-4-1(all defensive formations).

Lets talk about 5-4-1 formation. 5-4-1 is a defensive formation that relies heavily on back 3 (center backs). They soak the attack and explode away with the ball if opponent are dispossessed.The 2 fullbacks support the offence and push higher while counter attacking. The main purpose of 5-4-1 or 4-4-2 formation is to push opponents to the wide side while congesting middle of the park. This forces opponents to play wider so creative midfielder is mostly isolated.

This is where Emery is most likely to use pacy wingers who can cross the ball or cut inside if there is a chance. The first one i can immediately think of is Aubameyang. With his explosive pace and eye for a goal, he is definitely to start as the left winger. But who is going to play on the right? Most likely Ozil but the right side is sure to be dominated with Ozil's good for nothing pace. Iwobi will be a good pick for me as he shows signs of improvement under new manager. In my opinion Ozil should be benched and Ramsey should be played behind Iwobi. Both Iwobi and Ramsey can interchange their position as they are good in wide areas. They can exploit the space created in the wide areas.

Arsenal 4-3-3

Summary:

  1. Newcastle will play defensive football congesting the middle of the pitch and not allowing Arsenal to play from the middle.
  2.  Arsenal will be pushed wide.
  3. Pacy Wingers Aubameyang and Iwobi can lookout for the chance to get behind the defenders or beat 1 on 1 to feed Lacazette.
  4. Iwobi and Ramsey can switch the position as both of them are good goal scorers and creators.
  5. Guendouzi and Torreira should be able to handle the counter attacks of Newcastle as both of them are ball winning midfielders.
  6. Ramsey will be essential as he has an engine of a beast. He can drift inside as number 10 to mess with Newcastle's defenders.