Despite all the gimmicks, Mikel Arteta is still searching for answers. The Arsenal manager’s latest innovation involved lighting a fire at their London Colney training ground last week in the buildup to facing Manchester City, although that resulted only in the Watford coach Dan Gosling losing his voice. “Our training ground is across the hedge from Arsenal,” the former Newcastle midfielder said. “There was smoke and you could smell it, it was so strong.”
Arteta has tried pretty much everything since, days after his appointment in December 2019, he planted a 150-year-old olive tree outside his office to symbolise the history of the club and the responsibility “to look after the roots every single day”. From using a lightbulb during a pre-match team talk to “create energy and electricity”, to hiring professional pickpockets during a pre-season dinner and adopting a chocolate-coloured labrador called Win after reading that petting a dog can help to reduce stress levels, no stone has been left unturned.
However, Win will celebrate her fifth birthday in a couple of weeks and has yet to live up to her name because Arsenal have failed to pick up a major trophy since the FA Cup in Arteta’s first season. Over the past four seasons, Arteta has spent 539 nights top of the Premier League without winning the title, surpassing Kevin Keegan’s record by 200 nights. Even more damningly, Arsenal have been top for 959 days since they were last champions under Arsène Wenger in 2004. City, who took over at the summit on Wednesday after their narrow win over Burnley (Arsenal having led the way since October), have been top for 1,201 nights and won eight titles in the same period.
It was hugely symbolic that Arteta ended the morale-sapping defeat at the Etihad on his knees after Kai Havertz failed to take his opportunity to equalise in the dying moments. Despite taking the game to Pep Guardiola’s side, Arsenal again came up short. With a five-match shootout left, where goal difference could determine whether they get over the line or finish as runners up for the fourth successive season, Arteta must find a way of inspiring his team to play with freedom.
During the 2022-23 season when Arsenal were top for a record 248 days, Martin Ødegaard and Gabriel Martinelli ended with 15 league goals each and Bukayo Saka scored 14. This time, they have contributed a combined eight, albeit all three have had spells on the sidelines. With doubts over Saka’s availability for the run-in as he struggles with an achilles injury, Ødegaard and Martinelli need to step up. Arteta must also show more trust in Eberechi Eze after the strange decision to substitute him against City just after he had hit the post. In a team lacking creativity, he appears to be the one player capable of unlocking defences.
Arteta had taken a brave decision to drop Viktor Gyökeres, his leading league scorer with 12, from his starting lineup. The Sweden striker was showing signs of improvement but it was noticeable how much smoother Arsenal looked in attack with Havertz leading the line. The irony is that the Germany international was earmarked to play in midfield when bought in 2023 after Arsenal had finished as runners-up to City on the back of a 4-1 thumping at the Etihad that prompted Arteta to adopt a much more cautious approach the next season.
He has emerged as a better alternative at No 9 to a struggling Gabriel Jesus but his limitations as a striker were illustrated by the two opportunities he missed during the second half against City. Gyökeres lacks Havertz’s ability to link play and pairing them has not really worked, although a lack of other in-form options means Arteta may have to be bold – not a trait associated with him over the years – and try that again at times.
It has been all about trusting the process. The Spaniard, a self-confessed workaholic, revealed in October that he usually starts his day at 5.30am: two hours before Guardiola and earlier than any other Premier League manager surveyed by Sky Sports. His demeanour on the touchline during matches has been heavily criticised in some quarters for sending the wrong message to his players and betrays the anxiety he is feeling – perhaps a legacy of never having won the Premier League title as a player as well as the interminable wait as a manager. Success on the pitch is no guarantee of success in the dugout, but Guardiola won six La Liga titles as a Barcelona player and has buckets more experience of seeing things through compared with Arteta, whose only championship-winning season was in Scotland with Rangers in 2003.
Arteta has probably not helped endear himself to the wider public by remaining so guarded during press conferences, and calling his own supporters to arms has tended to backfire, as it did before this month’s costly defeat by Bournemouth when fans were told to “bring your lunch”. He will surely take a different approach before the game against Newcastle on Saturday evening.
Arteta, whose 16-year-old son Gabriel made his debut for the club’s under-18s on Wednesday, is understood to retain the faith of the Arsenal hierarchy regardless of whether they finish another season trophyless. If neither the league nor Champions League is won from here, the board’s resolve would be severely tested because a growing section of fans have rightly questioned whether he is capable of taking the final step.
It is easy to forget that this is Arteta’s first managerial post and the psychological stunts have been part of his attempts to stamp his authority on a largely young and impressionable group of players. With the pressure released slightly after losing the lead they had over City for so long, it is time to deliver.