How Mikel Arteta sparked Arsenal’s charge towards top four

05/09/2022

Arsenal are on the cusp of ending a five-year wait for Champions League football as their victory over Leeds solidified their place in the Premier League top four.

The Gunners will return to Europe’s elite competition if they win at Tottenham on Thursday night as Mikel Arteta continues to turn around a season that began in the worst possible way.

Arsenal were rock bottom of the Premier League, without a point or a goal, heading into the September international break but are now on the verge of a top-four finish.

Here, we look at just how Arteta has managed to instigate such a recovery.

The young ones

Squad goals

As well as a young squad, Arteta also has one of the smallest in the Premier League and – when both Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey were sidelined for the remainder of the season – concerns over the depth of resources.

Those worries have, so far, been eased by the form of the fringe players available to Arteta.

Rob Holding has come in for Ben White, who has missed the last two games with a hamstring issue, and done well.

Nketiah, too, has grasped his chance after replacing Lacazette as the first-choice striker but it is the form of Mohamed Elneny – having not kicked a ball for Arsenal this calendar year before being drafted in to start the win at Chelsea – who has epitomised the commitment to the cause for those not often called upon.

Sailing in the same direction

“All the players that are here, I am counting on them. If they want on the boat, they are more than welcome and that’s always my mindset,” said Mikel Arteta in June 2020.

Since then a number of players who have clearly been deemed to not be “on the boat” with the Spaniard have been cast off.

How Mikel Arteta sparked Arsenal’s charge towards top four

The young ones

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Squad goals

Sailing in the same direction

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