Tactics Column: Aggressive press and Hincapie tweak the keys against Villa

A game of two halves? Not quite. Arsenal finished 2025 with a resounding 4-1 win over Aston Villa that has, in wider discussion, largely been broken into a strong first half from the visitors and a dominant second half from the Premier League leaders.

Mikel Arteta didn’t seem to see it like that, though, and re-watching the game it’s easy to see why.

“We struggled in the first 10 minutes, arriving a bit late. They were playing through us and creating some open space situations that they are very dangerous at,” Arteta said after the game.

“Then we adjusted, got a bit more control, two big chances by Viktor and one scrappy situation inside the box, but we didn’t manage to score. In the second half, we clicked.”

The second half was the enjoyable part for Arsenal fans, with the game unlocked by Gabriel’s opener from a Bukayo Saka corner, and Arsenal didn’t let up from there, putting the game to bed with goals from Martin Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and substitute Gabriel Jesus.

However, the platform for success came with Arteta’s first half tweaks. While Villa had some big openings early on in the game, Arsenal took control much earlier than half-time. Defensively, Arsenal were vulnerable early on but as Arteta said, it was mostly about getting the timing or understanding between players wrong rather than any structural issues that required fixing.

Arsenal pressed high and with real aggression from early on, with Mikel Merino and either Martin Zubimendi or Martin Odegaard man-marking Villa’s midfielders Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana in build-up and Gabriel tracking Morgan Rogers deep into his own half, leaving William Saliba to deal with Ollie Watkins up front.

The gaps that Villa broke through may look like Arsenal were too aggressive but it was, like Arteta said, more about the timing of the press, as well as some unfortunate bounces falling Villa’s way. Arsenal were at their most vulnerable, really, when they were less aggressive.

When Gabriel tracked Rogers, Arsenal generally restricted Villa well.

That Onana charge through the pitch early on came after Gabriel had actually successfully forced Rogers all the way back into his own box.

That this led to anything was due to misfortune more than anything else. Arsenal had forced Villa into a clearance and Piero Hincapie won the ball on the halfway-line, but fell to the ground in doing so. His interception ricocheted off of Mikel Merino and fell into the path of Amadou Onana, who started a charge into the box, through the space that Hincapie would have been defending had he kept his balance.

This wasn’t a matter of Arsenal being out of shape or too gung-ho, but the bounces falling Villa’s way. Even then, William Saliba defended the situation flawlessly.

Villa’s other moments on the the break looked and felt hairy in the moment and it was fair to wonder whether Arsenal needed to keep an extra man back but, actually, the visitors were most likely to break the press when Gabriel wasn’t tight to Rogers, allowing the England international to roam, outnumber, and peel off of the Arsenal midfield.

And despite the perceived threat, Arsenal always had enough men back to outnumber Villa and force them away from goal. These moments felt more threatening than they really were and Arsenal dealt with them fairly comfortably with plenty of players back to support.

From the 19th minute until half-time, Villa did not manage a shot (Arsenal took five) and completed just four final third passes to Arsenal’s 35.

So, without the ball, Arsenal were at their most effective when they were at their most aggressive. With the ball, there were early struggles before a tweak from Mikel Arteta

Remember, Villa did not have a shot from the 19th minute on. That’s almost exactly the time there was a change made to Piero Hincapie’s role when Arsenal were building up. A quick fix made there saw Arsenal open up more options to progress the ball and push Villa back into their own half.

In the opening stages, Hincapie would line up on the left of what looked like a back three in possession, with Villa matching it with a three-man press made up of (from right-to-left) Jadon Sancho, Morgan Rogers, and Ollie Watkins. Hincapie and Sancho are circled in the examples below.

With this pressing shape, Villa were set comfortably. Arsenal couldn’t access central areas and didn’t have the numbers out wide to advantageously play the ball out to their wingers, with Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka both under immediate pressure when the ball went out to them.

It was this issue, not any issue with Arsenal’s defensive shape or midfield, that led to the biggest chance of the first half.

Gabriel was on the ball with no options for a pass. The three-man Villa press denies any access to the centre of the pitch, while a pass out wide can be pressed by either Watkins or (circled again) Sancho. Arsenal may outnumber Villa four to three around the ball, but they are not finding any advantage with their extra man.

So Gyokeres drops to give Arsenal and extra man and Gabriel plays the ball into feet.

The pass isn’t the best, the intention is read by Ezri Konsa, and the Swede fails to get his body in a good position to receive and protect the ball.

Villa snatch possession and are away at the Arsenal centre-backs.

It’s little wonder that, from here, Watkins is played into a great position and Arsenal are lucky he does not make the most of it.

But a tweak to Hincapie’s positioning in these scenarios helped Arsenal push Villa back. Around the 18-minute mark, the Ecuadorian (circled in yellow below) starts to push into advanced areas from left-back. Arsenal are still building up with three, but suddenly Sancho (circled in black) has a question to answer — does he keep to that pressing shape, or track back with Hincapie to help makeshift right-back Lamare Bogarde and midfielder Amadou Onana, who suddenly may have to deal with Leandro Trossard rather than sticking to Mikel Merino.

The answer is clear for Sancho: he has to drop back and track his man …

… with Zubimendi now making up part of that temporary back three in possession and Merino dropping deeper than before at times, Arsenal managed to pin Villa back in their own half, with their press having no impact on proceedings at all.

With three against two and an extra player out wide, Arsenal consistently found a free man out on the left and could carry the ball out from the back comfortably as well.

Hincapie positioned himself narrower than Trossard, which created opportunities for the Belgian to play one-on-one against Sancho, rather than a more defensive-minded player.

On some occasions, Trossard would be free to receive the ball completely unmarked …

… on others, Sancho was dragged inside and right-back Bogarde was pulled out towards Trossard rather than remaining in his a narrower position where he could defend the box.

The shift in approach from Hincapie was so pronounced that there was even the rare occasion where he made a run and was Arsenal’s furthest player forward, beyond Viktor Gyokeres up front …

… and where Arsenal had at times struggled to win loose balls on the edge of the Villa box in the opening stages, they now had the aggressive, tenacious nature that Hincapie brings in those counter-pressing scenarios, helping kill some of Villa’s counter-attacking threat before those counters could even begin.

In this scenario, Hincapie pounces into a 50-50 and forces a loose ball towards Merino, who immediately plays back into the Villa box with a snappy pass into Gyokeres.

It’s the second half of this win that contained all the goals and will be fondly remembered, but make no mistake, it was a smart change just 18 minutes in that saw Arsenal assert their authority and snuff out the early encouragement they had given an opposition side that arrived in north London having won 11 games in a row in all competitions. Remember, Villa threatened early but they didn’t have a shot between the 18th minute and Gabriel’s 48th minute opener.

The tweak to Hincapie’s role saw Arsenal push Villa back and dominate territory, with Villa less able to get a foothold with their press weakened and one of their most creative players forced to moonlight as an extra right-back.

It took a corner to break the deadlock, but it was this change that put Arteta’s side on top after a difficult opening 15-20 minutes and gave them the platform to “click” and find the levels that saw them win comfortably.