He has a huge job ahead of him, but the noises coming from him so far are very encouraging. Under Unai Emery we had become a very negative team who seemed unable to take control of a game and were reactionary rather than taking the game to opponents. Things got far worse this season and I find it difficult to remember one single Premier League game so far this season where we outplayed our opponents and deserved to win.
Of course Arteta cannot expect to change things overnight and he still has to work with the same players Emery had. Things might change slightly in the January transfer window, but realistically he has to more or less work with what he has. The first thing he will try to do will be to change the attitude of the players and if he’s to succeed it’s something he just has to do.
He’s had a few days to work with them and some of the signs in the last game under the temporary stewardship of Freddie Ljungberg were encouraging. Freddie put out a fairly young side and they worked their socks off to earn a 0-0 draw in a game of few chances. The defensive side of the performance was the encouraging part and we might have taken the three points too, but Jordan Pickford saved from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the game’s best chance.
Considering how bad our defence has been it was encouraging to keep a clean sheet away from home and it was our first away clean sheet since the opening day 1-0 win at Newcastle. Our away games have been drab affairs at best with very little quality on show, but we most certainly have some genuine quality in the squad. Arteta has to find a balance that will allow us to express that attacking quality while still showing solidity at the back.
I thought Calum Chambers did very well in the centre of the defence against Everton, but he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season and will miss out today as a result. It means the centre of the defence will see two out of David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi play and you would have to imagine it will be the first two with Mustafi on the bench. As a partnership they have failed to impress despite their vast experience and I just hope they can do better today. Hector Bellerin could return from injury at right back while Bukayo Saka looks likely to continue on the left with both Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac injured.
I expect a similar line up in midfield to the one at Everton with a combination of Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira to anchor things. The two of them have the makings of a good partnership with the right tactics and coaching and Arteta might just be the man to get the most out of them. Of course both players are rumoured to want away from the club and Arteta’s first job with each of them could be to convince them to stay if they are in his long term plans.
Ahead of the two of them I expect to see more experience than we did against Everton and I think Arteta has to go with the potential strongest starting lineup available to him. Aubameyang has to be a shoe-in while I think he has to show the confidence in Nicolas Pepe that appears not to have been shown up to this stage. We spent an awful lot of money on him in the summer and again Arteta has to hope he is the man who can get the most from our record signing.
It looks like Gabriel Martinelli might miss out through injury which could see Alexandre Lacazette come back into the team and Aubameyang switch to a wide role. The most interesting choice could be who plays behind those three players or if Arteta deploys a third midfielder in a central role.
The amount of money we pay Mesut Ozil is quite absurd and we certainly haven’t gotten the return you would expect from a player of his quality in a long time. He’s always been an exceptional talent who performs best with a very strong team around him and that’s something he hasn’t had at Arsenal far too often. If Arteta can get the best from him the team will benefit, but if he can’t it could be the end of the road for Ozil. If it comes to that it won’t be easy to dispose of a player earning as much as he does and I hope we do hang on to him and see the best of him again.
We have only won once in our last 10 league games and we need to turn things around quickly. The top four seems a long way away after Chelsea beat Spurs on Sunday, but fifth place is most certainly still within our reach. All we need is a good run of results with a few wins in a row and we will quickly climb back among the teams hoping to catch up on fourth place.
We can’t wait too long for that run to begin though and it would be great to start it at Bournemouth today. They’re not exactly setting the world alight at the moment either and they have lost five of their last six games with only a 1-0 win away to Chelsea to stand to their name in that time. They have lost their last three home games and they only scored one goal in those games which has to offer us real hope today.
I want and expect to see more commitment from the players today and if Arteta is going to succeed that’s the bare minimum we can expect. We certainly have the players to beat Bournemouth and climb the table, but it’s not going to be an easy fix for Arteta and it’s going to take time. Meanwhile we need to keep improving and taking points as Arteta tries to have the positive influence on the squad which is so badly needed.
I truly hope he succeeds and I have a feeling we have the right man for the job. It’s a long hard task and things won’t always go our way, but I think we will get an idea early on if he can have the required influence on the players. Let’s hope that will start today with three points and a performance to warm the heart and bring us hope for the future.
That’s it for today.
See you tomorrow.
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