Mikel Arteta seems to relish being a problem solver. Conceding lots of goals from set pieces? Hire a specialist coach who will transform your team into one of the most efficient in the Premier League. Finding it hard to get one over on your former boss after a run of eight straight defeats? Devise a gameplan that restricts their most important players and lead Arsenal to five games unbeaten against Manchester City if you include the Community Shield win in 2023, equalling the longest streak of any manager against Pep Guardiola, alongside Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel.
“To beat them we had to lose against them,” Arteta said after the scrappy 1-0 victory at the Emirates in October 2023 that was Arsenal’s first over City in the Premier League since December 2015. “The team showed a real maturity that comes from experiences. Sometimes you need that to become a better team.”
Last season’s 5-1 victory at the Emirates would have felt particularly satisfying, even if ultimately it didn’t deliver what Arteta craves because Liverpool condemned Arsenal to a third successive runners-up spot. With Guardiola in town again on Sunday and desperate for revenge, Arteta knows another three points will be important to keep up the pressure on Arne Slot’s side after a defeat at Anfield before the international break.
Impressive victories over Nottingham Forest and Athletic Bilbao since then without conceding, despite the absence of the injured William Saliba, showed the importance of having a much deeper squad, the new signing Cristhian Mosquera stepping in impressively. Piero Hincapié – who joined on an initial loan from Bayer Leverkusen – was handed his debut in Spain and the versatile Ecuador central defender, who is also capable of playing as a left-back, gives Arteta even more options.
Arsenal drew seven and lost one of 14 Premier League matches they played directly after a Champions League game last season – including both 2-2 draws against Liverpool – and their manager acknowledged they must try to be more consistent to sustain a challenge. “That’s something we want to improve,” said Arteta. “We will try to do better.”
He is banking on Arsenal’s array of attacking options to make the difference. After Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard came off the bench to score in Bilbao, Arteta made no secret of the fact he has taken inspiration from rugby union in viewing his substitutes as “finishers”, although he could just as easily have found it by watching Sarina Wiegman manage England to a second successive European title in the summer.
“If you look historically, the top teams, the teams that have won a lot, the impact that the finishers had has always been really, really high,” said Arteta on Friday. “You need that quality nowadays to unlock games and to do it consistently every three days. It’s even harder and that’s what you need. We are very lucky because we have players that can make that impact. They certainly did that the other day and now we need consistency on that.”
There were rumours that Martinelli and Trossard could be allowed to depart in the summer but it is understood Arteta was keen to keep both despite the arrivals of Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze. Martinelli and Trossard scored 10 goals each last season and made regular contributions, even if the former has struggled to hit the heights of the 2022-23 campaign when he managed 15. But the Brazilian’s pace provides a very different option on the left to Eze, who prefers to drift inside.
Finding the right balance as the games come thick and fast over the coming months will be the next big problem for Arteta to resolve. For example, Myles Lewis-Skelly has yet to start a game this season as Riccardo Calafiori has established himself at left-back thanks to his ability to provide more width. The 18-year-old did play for England against Andorra last week but was left out of the squad that travelled to Serbia a few days later. “When you don’t play, you have to fight to win that place back – that’s it,” said Arteta of Lewis-Skelly before the international break.
Arteta has shown a greater willingness to rotate his side this season, albeit more than he would have liked because of injuries. With continuing doubts over Martin Ødegaard’s fitness after the captain missed the win over Athletic with a shoulder issue, he is likely to stick with a midfield of Martín Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino against a City side that hope to be boosted by the presence of Rodri, who missed the 5-1 defeat in February after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the 2-2 draw at the Etihad earlier in the season.
Merino has also shown his versatility as a back-up striker to Viktor Gyökeres as Kai Havertz continues to recover from a knee operation. Gyökeres required stitches after he and Merino sustained head injuries against Athletic that have not ruled them out of the City game.
“Winning those matches creates that conviction that you can go and win the game but not against them, against any opposition,” said Arteta of Arsenal’s recent success against City. “That’s the feeling I have now with the team and the players individually: that on Sunday we are going there to win the game. That’s it.”
