How Arteta has transformed Arsenal into title challengers, from culling squad of egos to nurturing Saka into top talent
FOUR YEARS have passed since Mikel Arteta stood on the touchline at the Vitality Stadium in the pouring rain.
December 20, 2019 was when the Spaniard took charge of his first match as newly appointed Arsenal manager following the sacking of Unai Emery.
A point was earned – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fired in a second-half equaliser away at Bournemouth to kickstart Arteta’s reign.
Dark days followed – two successive eighth-placed Premier League finishes before Arteta eventually dragged the Gunners up the table.
Last season’s title charge sums up the drastic turnaround at a club that is almost unrecognisable now.
SunSport has looked at the five key areas in which Arteta has had the biggest impact:
TRANSFORMING BUKAYO SAKA INTO A GLOBAL SUPERSTAR
Upon his arrival, Arteta used an 18-year-old Bukayo Saka as a make-shift left-back, just like his predecessor Emery with differing levels of success.
Against the Cherries, Saka struggled defensively, was partly at fault for Dan Gosling’s 34th-minute opener and failed to contain an in-form Ryan Fraser.
But Arteta could see the potential in the young Englishman, and by the 2021/22 campaign was beginning to get the best out Saka in wide attacking positions.
Fast-forward to the present day and Saka, now 22, is one of the best wingers on the planet and one of the first names in Gareth Southgate’s England starting XI.
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Since the 21/22 season, Saka has 30 Prem goals and 24 assists, missing just one league game in the process. One of the most important figures in Arteta’s North London shake-up.
GETTING RID OF THE EGOS
Arteta was met with a toxic dressing room who had played their part in getting Emery the sack after just 18 months at the helm, as well as underachieving themselves on the pitch with little sign of getting up off the canvas.
Arteta said post-Bournemouth: “In terms of attitude, desire and commitment it was better than I expected.”
The likes of Sokratis, David Luiz, Mesit Ozil and skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all started on his managerial debut, and were known sources of dressing room tension and aggravation during the early days.
It was much the same when he looked to his bench on the south coast – Nicolas Pepe, Shkodran Mustafi and Matteo Guendouzi.
One by one, they were all shipped out, making way for a young, talented and committed group willing to trust the process and play the Arteta way no matter what.
Arteta also used it as a clever power play, especially with Aubameyang – exiling the Gabon international for his lack of professionalism and leadership and stripping him of the armband, even when some members of the Arsenal hierarchy disagreed.
From then on, the club and the players knew who was in charge.
USING THE TRANSFER WINDOW WISELY
Squad depth was not a strength of Arsenal’s when Arteta walked through the door. On the bench at Bournemouth, he did not even have a back-up striker to call on.
Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette both started, while Pepe and 19-year-old Emile Smith Rowe were the only substitute attacking options. It was a similar story in other areas.
In his first summer window in 2020, Arteta began the gradual revamp. Centre back Gabriel and midfielder Thomas Partey remain vital figures in the team now.
The summer after, in came Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu Aaron Ramsdale and Martin Odegaard, the latter on a permanent deal after spending the previous year on loan.
And by January 2023, Arteta welcomed the kinds of players in Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leandro Trossard and Jorginho that made them dream of the title.
Remarkably, only three players remain from Arteta’s debut: academy products Saka, Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson.
FINDING A CLINICAL EDGE
When Aubameyang brought the scores level at Bournemouth in the 63rd minute, it was Arsenal’s first shot on target.
By the end of Arteta’s first season in charge, Arsenal had scored just 56 goals, 10 less than Manchester United, 29 less than title winners Liverpool and 46 less than Manchester City.
The following season, it got worse with just 55 before a slight increase in 21/22 with 61 and then a huge jump to 88 in last year – three more goals than Liverpool did when they won the league in 2020.
Arsenal already have 35 after 17 Prem games this year, but remarkably, their improvement in finding the net has come despite not having a recognised goal-getting striker.
Goals and assists in the Prem have been shared around. Since 21/22, Gabriel Martinelli has 23 goals and 13 assists. Odegaard has 26 goals and 13 assists. Eddie Nketiah has 14 goals and three assists. Injury-hit Jesus has 14 goals and seven assists since 22/23.
Arteta has created a team that is anything but reliant on one source of goals.
CREATING A WINNING CULTURE
Arteta’s maiden starting XI consisted of the following: Bernd Leno; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Papastathopoulos Sokratis, David Luiz, Bukayo Saka; Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka; Reiss Nelson, Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang; Alexandre Lacazette
And on the bench: Emiliano Martinez, Skhodran Mustafi, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Nicolas Pepe, Joe Willock, Matteo Guendouzi, Emile Smith Rowe.
Of those 18 players, only Sokratis, Ozil, Xhaka and Luiz had won league titles before in their careers. It was a squad that had got used to coming up short in an Arsenal shirt.
Four years on, and that stat has not improved: in Arteta’s most recent starting XI at home to Brighton, only Jesus and Zinchenko – both at City – have won major league titles.
But now, Arteta has created an environment and a group who believe that will change and have the ability to back that up.
Despite the side who beat the Seagulls 2-0 having an average age of 24.7, it is a team full of leaders now used to and expected to win and dominate matches.
The tables have well and truly turned, and Arteta has been the architect.
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