How Arsenal’s tournament blueprint could be England’s secret weapon this summer

Fresh from celebrating a domestic double that May, Arsenal fanatic Morgan couldn’t resist putting a uniquely Arsenal spin on world news, after his heroes Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira trebled their winnings on the world stage that summer. It was symbolic of the en vogue French footballing flair of the time, and for some it went even deeper. There was an almost obsession with how the World Cup win had been perfected at the trailblazing Clairefontaine, France’s national football centre.

Now, 28 years later, could it be old-fashioned English steel, forged in a North London gunnery, that helps deliver an England win this summer?

Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are as close to certainties for Thomas Tuchel when it comes to selecting his final squad for the US this summer. Meanwhile, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke need a strong finish to the season to cement their place, but Tuchel’s Arsenal cohort might well be his secret weapon this summer at the World Cup. Not for what they will bring on the pitch, but for the insight they can provide on the tactics which have underpinned Arsenal's Premier League challenge this season.

As Tuchel watches the final stretch and fine-tunes his summer plans, he’ll be keeping a close eye on his Arsenal contingent as they chase down the title, hoping they get across the finish line unscathed. What he’ll also see is a side defined by steely efficiency, one that has now shed any concern for aesthetics in favour of getting the job done.

They tried the pretty stuff, excelled at it, but continually fell just short. The same soft underbelly at the business end of things that has dogged England in recent years. It may not be pretty, but it is effective, and no one on the red side of North London will complain when the trophy is finally engraved with their name once again. There should be no talk of “bottling” it this time around.

Mikel Arteta, for all the debate around his methods, has instilled a clinical style that would outsmart Liverpool’s relentless winning machine of the 1980s, as well as the psychological warfare perfected at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson.

This current Arsenal side is all that and more: an uneasy blend of George Graham’s one-nil pragmatism, Ferguson’s siege mentality and mind games, and Pep Guardiola’s darker arts – with a dash of Tony Pulis’s set-piece prowess for good measure. When it delivers the Premier League title to the Emirates, it will be impossible not to admire the transformation.

And it’s that mindset that England will need. They should navigate their way out of the group and onto Atlanta for the knockouts, but when preparation time becomes limited and margins tighten, the path to New York’s MetLife Stadium lies in mastering that ‘tournament’ football.

Right now, no Premier League team plays that better than champions-elect Arsenal. Under Arteta, they have crafted a ruthless, functional blueprint built on long throws treated as set pieces in their own right, obsessive dead-ball routines, calculated game management, and a willingness to make matches messy, slow and emotionally suffocating for opponents. Call it time-wasting, dark arts or competitive intelligence – it works.

Arsenal impose their tempo, control their half and maintain an emotional authority that sees them through when games become tense. It isn’t alternative football; it’s tournament football. And it’s precisely the quality England have lacked when their biggest moments have arrived. Southgate was onto it, for sure, particularly in Russia in 2018, where England’s own set-piece and penalty work assisted their run to the semi-final. He just couldn’t perfect it in the same way Arteta has.

International tournaments aren’t long leagues; they are seven short, tactical bouts. Winner stays on. Rhythm can disappear from one game to the next. Fear of defeat can kill a team’s style. Lose and you’re on the plane home. So, one throw-in or corner could flip a nation’s summer for good or bad.

That’s why Arsenal’s approach can’t be ignored and lends itself to the international stage. England already have the delivery, height and athleticism to dominate set pieces; this can become an identity rather than an occasional weapon. Arsenal have made long throws and set plays a consistent source of chaos and goals, something England could use when lesser opponents retreat into low blocks, or as the difference in those tougher matches, where historically England come up short.

They have the strength and ability to set the tempo, perhaps without the needless theatrics, but purposefully slowing games at the right moments and accelerating at others, and Tuchel – meticulous and precise in his approach – is primed to deliver that in a way that avoids cynicism while retaining control. Above all, Arsenal play in their own key, rarely their opponent’s. International football can be won in such moments rather than in open play.

Ultimately, if England are to win, they’ll have to overcome the best. So, the real question: would this be enough against Spain? Widely seen as favourites this summer, they remain our paradox – beautiful to watch and brutal to face. Their pressing can be brutal, their possession grinds teams down and they can force opponents to defend for long spells.

England don’t need to out-Spain Spain. They would be helped by a superiority on set pieces, Spain’s one consistent historical flaw. Tuchel’s England might need to embrace long periods without the ball, breaking the match into controllable moments rather than flowing phases.

They would need to defend with discipline, and not be too concerned about possession stats. All of it mirrors what Arsenal do so well. Teams can be frustrated, knocked out of rhythm and forced into uncomfortable games. What Arteta’s Premier League rivals don’t like is the inability to get into a flow against a stubborn team who refuse to dance to their tempo.

The England Tuchel inherits have some experience of this. They didn’t shine at Euro 2024, they survived – and survival is the heart of tournament football. They stumbled through games, won nervy knockout rounds, and still reached a final largely through resilience rather than brilliance. If they had found one more moment and brought the trophy home, no one would have been bothered about the style of football. The only thing that would have mattered was the silverware.

The same will be true under Tuchel. If England win the World Cup through a set-piece goal, a long throw or a late counterattack and a clean sheet forged through structure and discipline, the nation will not complain. Fans will be too busy planning street parties or recovering from hangovers to listen to tactical lectures. International football is not a beauty pageant; it is a mountain climb. Plant the flag by any means necessary.

Tuchel doesn’t need to replicate Arteta, but he can certainly learn from what Arsenal have built: control, structure, detail, emotional resilience. The margins will be small, the pressure suffocating, and the football often anything but glamorous. But tournament football rewards the ruthless, the clinical, the relentlessly efficient. England have the players. Now they need the plan – one that embraces the simple truths of knockout football and executes them better than anyone else.

Achieve that, and the media team at the Emirates may just need to find space on the wall in the press room for an inevitably retro-inspired Saka–Rice English version of that French masterpiece.