Bodo/Glimt boss shares what he’s noticed about all of Arsenal’s right-sided players

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Arsenal take on Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League tonight and the Norwegian side’s manager, Kjetil Knutsen, has noticed something about the Gunners’ tactics.

Mikel Arteta‘s men are on cloud nine at the moment. They’ve won all but one of their games in all competitions so far this season, and are currently on top of the Premier League table. The focus now shifts to the Europa League tonight.

Bodo/Glimt manager shares what he’s noticed about Arteta’s Arsenal tactics

Arsenal’s opening game in this season’s Europa League was against FC Zurich. It wasn’t the Gunners’ best performance of the campaign by any means, but they got the job done thanks to goals from young Marquinhos and Eddie Nketiah.

Knutsen has revealed that he watched that game. At first, he apparently didn’t understand what was going on with the movement of Arsenal’s players, especially on the left side. But, after watching them closely, he feels he knows exactly how Arteta’s men play.

The Norwegian claimed that Arsenal’s tactics see their left-sided players – left-back, left central midfielder and left winger – interchange positions with a lot of freedom. However, he feels Arteta’s men on the opposite side of the pitch don’t quite have the same freedom.

He told Dagbladet, as quoted by Sportwitness: “I was going to watch Zurich, but then I turned my concentration and my gaze towards Arsenal.”

He revealed that his first thought was: “What the hell are they doing?”

Then, he claimed: “When you see it over time, it’s not that complicated. They have a number of rotations at left-back, central midfield and left wing. There they have the freedom to change positions, but they have much less of it on the right side.”

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Bodo/Glimt boss Knutsen’s assessment of Arsenal, unsurprisingly, is spot on.

One of the biggest reasons why the Gunners have looked so good this season is their left-hand side. The trio of Gabriel Martinelli, Granit Xhaka and Oleksandr Zinchenko have all been sensational so far, and their movement and positioning has caused opponents a lot of problems.

On the opposite side, Ben White and Thomas Partey are a lot more defensive, and that has provided Arsenal with the perfect balance in most parts of every game they’ve played this term.

Arteta’s tactics are unlikely to change when Arsenal take on Bodo/Glimt later this evening, and it will be interesting to see how Knutsen will set his side out.