Arteta’s Arsenal revolution in full swing
With February now past the midway mark, Arsenal are two points clear at the top of the Premier League table with just 15 games to go. There is strong optimism from their supporters that this season could be the end of their almost 20-year wait for the title,but the race remains wide open with the two Manchester clubs forming part of the chasing pack. The question now is: How would they define the success of their Mikel Arteta-led project,with or without the title? In this feature,Soccer Laduma’s international team analyses the significant steps made by the Gunners this season!
From struggling to scintillating
If you could look into the future, would you? How far would you go? Or is the best part the actual journey to the end? On 13 December 2020, Mikel Arteta’s side had slumped to 15th position in the English Premier League after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Burnley courtesy of a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang own goal, while a Granit Xhaka red card added to their woes.
The London club was clearly in turmoil, but amid a barrage of criticism aimed at Arteta from pundits and fans alike, the club’s board confirmed they would continue fully backing the Spaniard. In hindsight, this career-defining moment is one that showed that Arsenal as an institution believed in the project that was underway. For the players who had hoped that Arteta’s demise was near and supporters who wanted the manager fired in exchange for short-term success, both soon began to realise the board had put their fate in the hands of the youngest manager in the Premier League. 26 months later, the decision appears to be a stroke of genius as the Gunners go toe-to-toe with Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title. Despite having the youngest team in the league, the side are currently number one on the log with a twopoint lead and a game in hand. With all title-winning sides, there is a moment when a football team and their manager seemingly sync into one mechanism; the players begin to replicate the characteristics of their head coach, and Arsenal are no different as the 40-year-old’s intensity, determination and drive have seemingly been imprinted on to the team.
Key to the north London side’s success in this campaign is the young spine of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and William Saliba, while at the beginning of the season, Arteta added the winning mentality and experience of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, who are both said to have had a massive impact on their team. When Arsenal defeated Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium in January, it was Zinchenko who delivered the rallying cry in the pre-match huddle. In the Premier League, only Manchester City have found the net more than Arteta’s men, who have been free-scoring for the majority of this campaign, with Saka and Odegaard racking up a combined 31 EPL goal contributions to date. While Arteta understands the obligation to entertain, he is seemingly obsessed with efficiency in both defence and attack, with only Newcastle United having conceded less goals in the Premier League this season at the time of writing.
However, this is not to say that the team has no weaknesses. A recent blip of no wins in four consecutive matches across all competitions showed there is a method to breaking down the Gunners, but their weekend victory over Unai Emery’s Aston Villa has perhaps signified a change in the mentality that saw Arsenal miss out on top four last season. Also, off the pitch, the club reportedly had three main January transfer targets in Moises Caicedo, Joao Felix and Mykhailo Mudryk, but ended up with none of them on 1 February, with the club signing Leandro Trossard, Jorginho and Jakub Kiwior instead. While Arteta is performing well with the tools at hand, Arsenal’s sporting director Edu Gasper should be getting the manager whoever he wants in his pursuit of the league title. In the past, it was regularly claimed that Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal were hamstrung because of their cautious approach to the transfer market. Hopefully, the club has learnt from their previous mistakes.
What would success be for the Gunners?
The simple answer would be the club clinching their first Premier League title since the mighty 2003/04 ‘Invincibles’ squad. It is only February and the side has 15 games to play as they sit with a slender two-point lead at the top of the standings and a game in hand. It would be naive to assume the title race is anywhere near being over as City, who have won four of the past five EPL titles, are still strong contenders to seal a fifth league trophy under manager Pep Guardiola.
The Citizens seem to have endured some rather uncharacteristic fortunes this season as they have already lost more games (four) this term than they did last season (three) when they were crowned champions on the final day of the campaign against Aston Villa. While Arsenal deserve significant credit for what they have done so far, it is clear Pep Guardiola’s men have somewhat dropped the ball in this campaign. Another regular feature in the title race in recent years, Liverpool, have massively underwhelmed this season and have essentially failed to replicate their fortunes of the previous five campaigns.
An outside shout for the red side of Manchester
While one giant has seemingly fallen, another has re-emerged as Manchester United also appear to have an outside chance of winning the league this season, trailing Arsenal by five points at the time of writing. Their boss, Erik ten Hag, has brought much-improved results since taking charge of the side following an abysmal 2021/22 campaign, which saw them finish the season with the least amount of points (58) in their history. The Red Devils also boast arguably the most in-form player in the Premier League in Marcus Rashford, who has 16 goals in 17 games since the 2022 FIFA World Cup concluded, while they are also unbeaten in 17 home games at Old Trafford. However, following their 3-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday, Ten Hag insisted they are not thinking about challenging for the crown.
It is reasonable to suggest that a top-four finish would still be of significant value to Arsenal as they last qualified for the UEFA Champions League back in the 2016/17 season, which was their 17th qualification in a row. Last season, they came close to reaching the elite European tournament, but eventually lost their top-four spot in the last four games of the campaign. Arteta’s men sit in an advantageous position, but it would be premature to suggest today that they will go all the way given their lack of experience, not only in their squad but also in competing for England’s biggest trophy. Arsenal have arguably over-performed this season and winning the title is something many will see as them having overachieved. Arteta’s recent complaints about the scheduling of games also suggests a bit of pressure on his part. However, the fighting spirit they showed in their comefrom-behind 4-2 away win at Aston Villa last Saturday indicates that they are now a different beast keen on ending their almost 20-year wait to once again be English champions.