Arsenal assistant Steve Round believes the Gunners have "turned the corner" with the appointment of Mikel Arteta as head coach.
Arteta took over as Gunners boss on December 20 and had lost just two of his first 16 matches in charge before coronavirus, not least his own diagnosis with it, forced football across Europe to be suspended earlier this month.
In terms of results the Spaniard started slowly as Unai Emery's permanent successor, winning just two of his first eight matches in charge, but even in those early days there was a clear upswing in performances from his Arsenal side and results were beginning to improve as the second half of his tenure brought six wins.
Round is one of three assistants, alongside Freddie Ljungberg and Albert Stuivenberg, that Arteta appointed to aid his transition into management and the 49-year-old, who has also worked with Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and Sam Allardyce, expects great things from the Arsenal boss.
"It's a fantastic club with a top manager," Round told the Hartlepool Mail. "Hopefully we have turned the corner and we are starting to move forward.
"We'd got some momentum going, obviously it's all been put on hold now and we’re just waiting to see what happens.
"It’s a brilliant club and I’m delighted to work for the manager who I think has got the potential to be one of the very, very best.”
Meanwhile Arteta revealed earlier this week that he has fully recovered after his battle with COVID-19.
Arsenal announced that Arteta had contracted the virus on March 12, news that subsequently led to all English football soon being suspended with no games to take place until April 30, though that date is expected to be pushed back further.
The Arsenal squad are doing fitness work at home whilst Arteta is in regular contact with them, the football executive team and his coaches as he makes plans for the return of football.
"I feel proud of where I am," he said. "In difficult moments is where you really see the people and how they react, how they think and how they prioritise things.
"All the phone calls I'm having with all the members of the board and all my technical staff, all the coaching staff, all the players, how aware and how encouraged they all are to try to help, to try to be on board with the situation and to try to make things easier for the club has been amazing.
"To be fair I have to say that I'm very privileged to work with these people."
