"Arsenal's Game-Changer: Shifting Martin Odegaard into a Surprising Role to Outmaneuver Man City and Reignite Their Title Hopes"

ARSENAL face what could be a decisive fixture in the Premier League title race when they travel to Manchester City on Sunday.

The Gunners have been in patchy form of late, suffering a resounding loss to City in the final before being dumped out of the by Southampton.

Mikel Arteta will have to come up with some novel ideas to help outwit Pep Guardiola in the title race Credit: Getty One unique idea could see Martin Odegaard pick up a new position – if he is fit Credit: Shutterstock Editorial

That string of games saw lingering hopes of a quadruple evaporate, before a shock Prem loss to Bournemouth left doubts creeping in about whether they could even see out their advantage in the title race.

Meanwhile City have been relentless in their pursuit, having lost just one domestic contest in 2026.

SunSport’s guru Dean Scoggins takes a look at what the sides can do to make the most of their strongest weapons for this do-or-die fixture.

Does Arteta have to drop Martin Zubimendi?

Martin Zubimendi has been grating with fans for a while. He’s been off form, he’s been robbed in midfield, a couple of times in Europe he’s been caught.

The physicality and the minutes that have been played have caught up with him.

So can Arteta drop Zubimendi, the man he’s been relying on in that position all season when it comes to the crunch? I would say yes, drop him – but only if is fit.

When Arsenal look to build up from the back, Zubimendi has been dropping to join the centre-backs, but the team have been struggling to play out of their defensive third because he is a 180-degree player, not a 360-degree player – he is not comfortable receiving the ball on the half-turn.

We know that are going to go with a four-man press in their 4-2-4 shape out of possession, which will put pressure on the midfielder playing between the centre-backs, which is Zubimendi.

Arsenal have struggled to play out from deep areas of late That is thanks in part to Martin Zubimendi, who is not comfortable taking the ball on the half-turn

But if you manage to manipulate, you can create a space through the middle – but Raya is playing into Zubimendi, and his unwillingness to turn and go forward is what is really costing Arsenal.

Martin Odegaard’s new role:

You could bring Odegaard in for Zubimendi on the left side of a midfield partnership with , behind a ten like Havertz or Eze.

When Arsenal are playing out, a little bit like does for PSG, you could move Gabriel into the middle of the back line and drop Odegaard into the left of a back three, which means that the left-back is fable to invert into midfield

Then you have created a midfield diamond, with a better ball player in the back line, and you are outnumbering City.

If they then press with their four man line, you push Raya into Arsenal’s back line to make it a four behind Declan Rice and the inverted left-back, and now you are six against City’s four.

Like , Odegaard could be that player that is solving the tactical issues in-game.

It doesn’t have to be him, but the best teams in Europe have been doing it this season, will drop in there for , we even saw doing it for .

City’s four-man press means that Arsenal can create overloads if they can penetrate past the forward line By inverting a full back and dropping a midfielder and the goalkeeper into the back line, Arsenal can overrun City’s press

Arsenal’s answer to Rayan Cherki

What does is when the game goes one direction, he’ll go and buzz in off , and if nobody follows him, will hold the width and Cherki will go over to the other wing with him.

It’s a big problem when you’re defending against him, because a lot of teams these days are going man for man, so what do you do with the free role guy?

I think there is a question whether they actually go man-vs-man against him, I think they should.

I think Arsenal will have to assign a man to shadow Cherki for the full match. Don’t follow him past the half-way line, but as soon as he comes back into your half, he’s YOUR man.

They could assign whoever plays at left-back to follow Cherki, with sticking to Haaland, and risking allowing Gabriel to shift to the left to deal with City’s remaining wide threats.

It is that ace in the pack in Cherki that they’re gonna have to have a plan to deal with, it might not be by going man-for-man, but they need a solution.

Rayan Cherki, though starting on the right wing, plays a free role across the width of the pitch which Arsenal must track Arteta canc ommit a left-back to shadow Cherki when he comes into central areas, if he allows Gabriel to shift wide to engage City’s wide men