City’s Attack

At first, City gave the impression that they won’t be able to cruise through the
match with the least effort possible. Many runs had to be made from the
wingers and midfielders behind Arsenal’s back 5 taking advantage of the bad
offside trap implementation from the visitors. Adding to that, City’s passing
wasn’t as accurate as the rest of their games and many over-the-top passes
were either too strong or too weak.

Whenever the hosts faced a dead-end, they’d pass the ball back to
Stones/Otamendi in the aim of baiting Arsenal’s players to press them and
opening up their lines vertically. This move was followed by either a pass to
Aguero so he can lay it off, or a pass to a fullback to play it inside; a concept
used by City where they keep on passing the ball around the opposition’s
shape until they find a gap to play it inside and break their lines.

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Made using TacticalPad

What helped in carrying out this phase of play is Arsenal’s unorganized press;
the Gunners were closing down options but in a half-hearted manner and a
simple back-pass to Ederson allowed City to find a spare man up-field. The
disorganized press from Arsenal saw them get hopelessly outnumbered while
their body positioning while pressing was also not optimal with poor coverage
using their cover shadows.

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City take control with numerical advantage:

A major principle in Juego De Posicion that Guardiola applies is having
overloads all over the pitch to dominate the team defending against him.
Below are several match events where City adjusted their structure to gain
numerical superiority hence improving ball circulation:

Central defenders pushing forward

After Arsenal switched to 5-4-1, we’ve seen either Otamendi or Stones

dribbling their way into the midfield line. This happened for two reasons: first,
keeping 3 defenders at the back (with Delph/Walker) against a sole striker is
useless and hence the additional player can be used somewhere else.
Second, whenever Stones/Otamendi carried the ball into midfield an Arsenal
player will step up to pressure them; creating a passing lane to City’s
attackers and midfield 8’s. This tweak also allowed the back line to pressure
the pass to Sanchez immediately in case Arsenal’s midfielders or defenders
intercepted the ball and wanted to break away.

This is a tactic that Guardiola heavily encourages his defenders to do. John
Stones is a good example for this, who carries the ball aggressively into the
midfield when faced with no pressure. Jerome Boateng is another example
who developed this trait under Pep’s tutelage.

Aguero dropping off

Xhaka & Ramsey were Arsenal’s central midfielders when playing the 5-4-1,
being up against Silva and De Bruyne. When City’s midfield was pressured,
Aguero dropped to midfield to receive the line-breaking pass from his
teammates and forming a 3vs2 situation in the middle. Before, we rarely saw
Aguero being proactive in linking up with the midfield; however, with
Guardiola favoring Gabriel Jesus, a shift in mentality had to happen for City’s
record breaker. His movement confused Arsenal’s defenders; should they
follow him and risk exploiting channels for Sane and Sterling? Or let him free
and risk the ball being advanced into dangerous areas?
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Overloads on the wings

Pep always looks where space can be created within the opponent’s
formation, that’s why he adjusts his team for each match accordingly. In
Arsenal’s 5-4-1, the right/left midfielder and right/left full back protect each
other from any potential overlap, but what if another player or two joins the
wing-play? Well, that’s how City scored their first goal:

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Two things to note here: First, the counter-press from City’s players
immediately after the pass was intercepted. Second, towards the end of the
animation, notice the moment Delph passes the ball to De Bruyne, a 4 vs 3 is
shaping up on the wing. Sane with Bellerin, Ozil with Delph, Ramsey with De
Bruyne, but Fernandinho totally free; credits to the Brazilian for offering
himself as a passing option.