Arteta cautious over Arsenal revival despite lift in results

Manager wants to see better performances Top four in our hands if we improve, says Leno

A scoreline of “1-0 to the Arsenal” might look like a return to the George Graham era of a well-drilled defence and clinical forward line, but Mikel Arteta has already shown his intelligence as a manager and is not fooled that this particular ship has been turned round yet, in a process that is taking longer than he would like.

Arsenal are now unbeaten in eight league games and have won three in a row for the first time in more than a year, taking them into the pack chasing a Champions League place, but Arteta is quick to point out the difference between results and performances.

He cited as an example West Ham United, who again failed to take anything from a game in which they played well against superior opposition and had the best of the chances. “I watched their games

against Manchester City, Liverpool and Spurs and they were really unlucky, so the points they have don’t show the quality of performances they have been putting in over the past few weeks,” he said.

It has been a reversal of fortune for Arsenal, however, as results appear to be better than some performances have merited. One statistic shows that only once in their past 10 league games at home have they managed more shots on goal than their opponents, suggesting the same structural weaknesses that dogged the latter end of Arsene Wenger’s time, and was not addressed by Unai Emery.

It is no secret that for years Arsenal’s defence and midfield have been too flimsy, allowing opponents

plenty of chances, and only the sort of profligacy West Ham showed on Saturday lets them off the hook. In the early minutes, Jarrod Bowen was given the ball 25 yards from goal, but shot against a post, and Michail Antonio, Pablo Fornals and Sebastien Haller missed good chances.

Instead it was Alexandre Lacazette who scored the game’s only goal, the Arsenal substitute tucking away Mesut Ozil’s headed pass in the 78th minute. An initial offside verdict was correctly overturned by the video assistant referee, giving Arsenal victory and David Moyes a deeper sense of injustice.

“We didn’t deserve to lose. We’ve played really well in the past three games, but only taken three points,”

the West Ham manager said. Arteta concurred, saying: “It’s very strange. Things that are supposed to happen are not happening any more, and you get surprises.”

But he has not been surprised by the size of his task at Arsenal. “We’re turning the corner in terms of results and a little bit in terms of what I want to see from my team,” he said. “People were telling me I had turned the ship around, but the ship still has to turn a few times more to see what we want to see.

“There are positives we can take from the eight or nine weeks that we have been here, but it will be down to performances and related to results.”

His star performer against West Ham was Bernd Leno, who did

more than most to keep the visitors at bay with excellent saves to deny Antonio, Haller and the rest. The German goalkeeper agreed with his manager’s assessment of the situation, saying: “It was not our best game, but the mentality was good. You have these type of days when

you don’t play your best, but the result is the most important thing.”

He has already seen a change in mentality under Arteta. “Yes, I think you could see many games like this, such as Chelsea away [a 2-2 draw]. It was all about a mentality game after the red card and yes, I think we are happy about our mentality. But I think the manager also said that not everything is perfect. We have to work on many things and improve many things.”

He acknowledges a tougher test will come at Manchester City on Wednesday if Arsenal are to have any chance of reaching the top four.

“Now we focus on Man City and not what is in May. We have to focus on every game and it will be in our hands.”