Mikel Arteta will celebrate his fifth anniversary as Arsenal manager on Friday, with Bukayo Saka admitting he is fed up with finishing second and wants to win trophies this season.
The Spaniard returned to the Emirates in December 2019 and vowed to be “ruthless” with players who were not ready to show the required passion and commitment. From the first starting team he picked against Bournemouth, only Saka will remain at the club.
Former Gunners midfielder Arteta, 42, is now the third longest-serving manager in the Premier League and has a net transfer fee of half a billion pounds. But since the 2020 FA Cup final, in which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice, the Gunners have failed to win a major trophy. Or the Premier League since the Invincibles in 2004. Over the last two seasons the Gunners have finished second behind Manchester City in the Premier League, despite setting a Premier League club record for wins (28) and goals scored ( 91).
And England star Saka said: “He's a terrible man, I'll be honest. He was runner-up in two European finals for England and runner-up twice in the Premier League with Arsenal. It's that extra fuel for me, that extra motivation for me. I definitely want to get over the line this season and definitely try to lift a trophy.”
The Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Crystal Palace means the Gunners will play in four more competitions this season – including the Champions League – and four-in-a-row champions City look set to emerge from the Premier League.
“We are not afraid to say we want to win,” Saka told the BBC. “We feel like we are ready to compete for a trophy. This season we really want to take the next step and win something.”
Arsenal led the Premier League by eight points in April 2023 before finishing five points behind City. After sixteen games this season, Arsenal's total of thirty matches is ten fewer than at the same stage in 2022/23 and six worse than last year.
The first half performance against Crystal Palace without Saka and captain Martin Odegaard showed how dependent they are on their two best players. And before Gabriel Jesus' hat-trick, the Gunners had been too reliant on standard goals, with Arteta employing 'dark arts' both on and off the pitch with his tactics and media briefings.
But Arteta, Pep Guardiola's former assistant, has brought about a culture change at the club that was drifting after Arsene Wenger's departure in 2018, and has a young squad that fully believes in his methods.
Former Real Madrid star Odegaard, who first joined in January 2021, said: “I came here on loan and we suffered a bit from a lot of noise around the club and we didn't perform as well as a club like Arsenal should . , but I believed in the project so much after talking to him and the club and seeing everything that was happening around here.
“Everyone within the team has a lot of self-confidence and that confidence is reflected in what you see here every day. He just gets everyone working together and working in the same direction, it's incredible.”
After signing a new three-year contract in September – and despite the departure of sporting director Edu – Arteta has the full support of his club for his intensive management style.
Mikel Merino added: “Mikel is a coach who speaks to players every day, there is not a single detail in training that he does not look at.”
Myles Lewis-Skelly, the 18-year-old who joined the Arsenal Academy a decade ago, is part of the next generation of talent now in the first team, along with Ethan Nwaneri. “It's incredible, the team he's built with the coaches,” said the England youth defender. “You can just feel everywhere on the ground that the energy is always high and positive.”
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