Arteta is a great fit for the Gunners ...he’s one of their own

MIKEL ARTETA is a good fit for Arsenal – but he needs to be ruthless and build a team in his own image.

And in his first training session, Arteta should concentrate on the Gunners’ organisation and shape without the ball... because they have been a shambles defensively this season.

In short, he has a fantastic opportunity to rebuild and reinvent Arsenal.

I don’t go along with the people who say Arteta’s appointment is a massive risk because he has no previous managerial experience.

Pep Guardiola was a first-time manager when he took over at Barcelona – and he has turned out all right, hasn’t he?

Arteta has been learning from the genius of Guardiola as his No.2 at Manchester City, so why shouldn’t he be ready to put some of Guardiola’s ideas into action at the Emirates?

And I think Arteta ‘gets’ Arsenal. There may be fans who think he is better suited to Everton, and Carlo Ancelotti – who is expected to take over at Goodison Park – might be a better fit for the Gunners.

But Arteta spent five years as a player in north London, so there is not much about the fabric of Arsenal he doesn’t know by now.

He also has the advantage of not being the man who followed Arsene Wenger into the manager’s chair – a task which proved too much for Unai Emery.

So I have no issue with Arsenal’s choice. If they are going to go down the route of a former player, on paper Arteta has just as much to offer as the likes of Patrick Vieira or Freddie Ljungberg.

If I was an Arsenal supporter, I would be thinking, ‘He’s one of us’.

To establish his own identity on the pitch, Arteta’s choice of backroom staff will be critical.

Guardiola surrounds himself with experts in every aspect of coaching, and Arteta would do well to follow suit. It will be interesting to see where the existing coaches Steve Bould and Mertesacker fit in. Mertesacker was a World Cup winner with Germany but, without the ball, Arsenal have been all over the place defensively.

And above all, Arteta (with Guardiola, above) will need strong backing from the board. Owner Stan Kroenke has one of the richest sporting empires in the world, so he needs to dip into his savings and give Arteta robust financial support.

Arteta missed out on the Arsenal job last time, when it probably came round too soon for him. Now, the timing feels right. There is no need for the Gunners to give up on a top-four finish this season. Just up the road, Jose Mourinho has shown what can happen in a short space of time by stringing a few wins together.

Tottenham will be in the top four if they beat Chelsea tomorrow, and Arsenal should not regard a seven Per point gap as insurmountable. But their best route back to the Champions League, as it proved for Emery last season, might have to be winning the Europa League.

And wherever the Gunners finish this season, they must give Arteta time.

He needs time to get rid of the dead wood from his squad, time to integrate new players suited to the style of football he preaches, and time to win the trust of fans, who have become disenchanted with decline since the last years of Wenger’s reign.

If he succeeds, the reinvention of Arsenal will be an exciting chapter at a club who have lost their identity.

Arteta has just as much to offer as the likes of Vieira or Ljungberg