Why Arsenal’s defensive lockdown of Harry Kane should not be underestimated

In Arsenal’s quest to hunt down every defensive record as they chase Premier League and European glory, a statement 3-1 home win against Bayern Munich owed much to a standout performance by third-choice centre-back Cristhian Mosquera.

The 21-year-old, making only his sixth Arsenal start — having joined from Spanish club Valencia in the summer — did more than just deputise for the injured Gabriel. He completely shut down Harry Kane.

The Bayern No 9 had 30 touches over 90 minutes, but no shots in a Champions League match for the first time since October 2023. It was also the first time the 32-year-old England captain had played 90 minutes against Arsenal and not had an attempt on goal.

The former Tottenham Hotspur man came into Wednesday’s game with 24 league goals in 18 appearances this season, plus a record of 15 in 21 games against Arsenal. A Kane goal at the Emirates is almost always in the script.

Not this time. He had more touches in his own penalty area (three) than in Arsenal’s (two).

The closest Kane came to scoring was on 44 minutes, when Michael Olise found him in the box with a short, square pass, but Mosquera used his arms well to get his body between player and ball.

When William Saliba’s clearance hit the behind of Martin Zubimendi and ricocheted towards goal, any chance for Kane to put Bayern 2-1 up was quickly smothered by ’keeper David Raya.

Kane’s lack of attacking involvement was a reflection of the well-executed out-of-possession Arsenal plan, rather than being a specific approach to target him.

Kane was successfully shackled by Arsenal on his return to north London (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

“We knew what type of game we were in for, probably the toughest game tactically that we’ve played this season,” Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice told TNT Sports afterwards.

“The way they (Bayern) move, they drag you around. That can really put you off as a player, because there has to be constant communication with a man-to-man game, especially when you’ve got Kane dropping from striker all the way to the edge of the box. As a centre-half, are you prepared to go all the way with him?”

The answer to Rice’s question from his centre-back colleagues was an emphatic ‘yes’.

Mosquera and Saliba went touch-tight with Kane and Bayern No 10 Lennart Karl, sometimes exchanging marking responsibilities when the situation demanded it. This allowed Arsenal to go man-to-man against the Bundesliga’s champions and current leaders.

Arteta’s side gave themselves a platform to play from with a deliberately pragmatic start, allowing Bayern 76 per cent possession in the opening 10 minutes, and 68 per cent across the first half.

Their compact 4-4-2 shape is a well-honed one at this point, though it was noticeable how zonal they were a lot of the time.

Bayern coach Vincent Kompany often had both full-backs, Konrad Laimer (left) and Josip Stanisic (right), positioned high and narrow, and with Kane dropping in, the pictures kept changing.

It demanded that Zubimendi be diligent in tracking Laimer, and for Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard to put in defensive shifts to support their full-back.

Really, the only weak spot Arsenal had all night was those diagonals in behind Myles Lewis-Skelly that Bayern used to isolate Olise against him, and Arteta remedied that by bringing Calafiori on with 22 minutes of the 90 to go.

“When they drop you deep, it’s so hard to pick up references across the pitch, it’s so hard to get up to a man because they’re just rotated constantly,” Rice told TNT Sports. “So it’s about staying zonal and waiting for the opportunity to pounce. I think, second half, we got our references right, we really went man-to-man.”

This was as big a test of synchronicity in the press that Arsenal will face all season, and all three goals owed to their defensive quality.

They won the corner that became the opener thanks to Saka forcing a bad pass from Laimer, then Zubimendi winning an aerial duel and counter-pressing the same player into a turnover on the edge of the box, before his cross was blocked.

As the sequence unfolds, watch how quickly Arsenal’s second (midfield) and third (defence) lines of pressure get up to support the forwards. In the space of a few seconds, they have eight players high, pinning Bayern back, plus Jurrien Timber and Saliba are diligently tight to Kane and Serge Gnabry, should a turnover occur in Bayern’s favour.

The move that gave Arsenal a 2-1 lead was another good example of how they can turn pressing sequences into quality chances.

Importantly, Calafiori remained switched-on to the positional rotation between Stanisic and Olise, with the full-back rolling in and the winger coming down, which is why he ends up with so much speed and momentum to get into a crossing position on the underlap — Calafiori started running as a pressing jump (he’s not even in shot here).

The third Arsenal goal, a textbook counter-attack which made the most of Gabriel Martinelli’s pace — and Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s aggressiveness off his line — originated because they made a three-v-one against Olise in their own box, and two passes and 11 seconds later, were winning 3-1.

The defensive run that Arsenal are on is truly outstanding, particularly in such a high-scoring era; there were 5-3, 3-4 and 3-2 scorelines in other Champions League games on Wednesday.

And while this is technically their worst period for conceding, with no clean sheets for three matches and four goals allowed, it makes for five straight matches where opponents have been limited to chances worth less than one expected goal.

In 19 games across all competitions this season, only twice (against Manchester United on the Premier League’s opening weekend in August and at home to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup, where Arteta made 10 changes from the weekend’s starting XI) have opponents created chances worth in excess of 1xG.

To maintain that foundation in spite of injuries shows the strength of Arsenal’s squad depth, something they did not have in 2022-23 when Saliba’s back injury in the middle of March derailed their title charge.

This time, the absence of Gabriel could be argued as even more significant, given his goals at set pieces and dominance in the duels.

The way Saliba and Mosquera defended Kane last night, and how Arsenal executed their out-of-possession approach to beat Bayern, was a sign of champions.