City match is proof Arteta is changing Arsenal culture

Manchester City match is proof Mikel Arteta is changing Arsenal culture

Yes, it may have been another defeat to a ‘top six team’, yes it may be the 29th in a row without a win away from the Emirates, but this one felt different.

Too often in recent years an Arsenal side that fell a goal behind to Manchester City, or so many other teams for that matter, would have crumbled. They would have conceded two, three, even five or six if we’re honest.

But not this Arsenal team, you can see this is a group that has fire in their bellies, exuberance and enthusiasm on their side and a will to win, whoever the opponent.

It may not have been the prettiest of games at the Etihad on Saturday evening, but Gunners fans have to get used to that as a fanbase, it might take time but the results will come.

In Mikel Arteta the club has one of the most tactically astute managers in Europe, and you can see his influence slowly engraining itself into his squad, with the Gunners looking as hungry as ever on their return from the international break.

Time and time again we saw the pressure being put onto City all over the pitch, with Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka causing Joao Cancelo no end of problems down the left hand side, while Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka continued to hassle and harangue as ever.

At 19 years of age, we are witnessing the maturing of Saka before our very eyes. He impresses week on week, with Saturday no exception. He must still be wondering how he didn’t manage to level the scores after he was repelled by a heroic one-on-one save from Ederson before the break.

We have been so used to Arsenal letting the opposition influence their style of play in these fixtures, and more often than not suffering badly as a result, but with Mikel at the helm, it finally looks like the Gunners are turning a corner.

This is a team of fighters, led by a man who oozes confidence, even the fact Willian was deployed as a central striker while he was on the pitch is testament to Arteta’s self-belief, and belief in the players at his disposal.

It may not have fully paid off for the Brazilian, who made way for Alexandre Lacazette with 20 minutes left to play, but the fact there was a definitive game plan showed how flexible the current squad can be, as the Spaniard mentioned post-match.

"We need to have the versatility to play in different formations occupying different spaces,” Arteta said.

“It was a game for him, the way City plays and the way they track the opponents and the spaces that can be used.

"It was obviously really hard to leave two strikers on the bench but it was a tactical decision.”

With a crucial fortnight of action in both the Premier League and the Europa League on the horizon, things could have easily spiralled with an all too familiar destitute performance in a match like this against a Pep Guardiola side, but instead there is optimism.

With Leicester and Manchester United coming up, the latter of which being away from home, there is belief that the long, long wait for a big victory away from the Emirates will finally come to an end. Sooner rather than later.

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