Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revived the club like no other, as the Gunners have found themselves in an unprecedented title race this season, after finishing outside the top four last term. Arteta’s management has been hailed with the Spaniard being credited for the improvement of players who were about to leave the club a few years ago. And all that is reaping rewards now with the Gunners staring at a first Premier League title in two decades.

However, while his success is quite evident to the eyes, many are unaware of his efforts behind closed door. The Amazon Prime Video’s docu-series ‘All or Nothing: Arsenal’ provided rare footage of how Mikel Arteta sets-up his team and the tactics he brings to play. A new video clip is now making rounds of social media wherein the Arsenal manager can been seen explaining how he wants his wingers to play alongside the full-backs, which has majorly contributed to the club’s success this season.

Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta has massively improved his wingers, especially the duo of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. Credits: Twitter

Mikel Arteta’s wing play the reason behind Arsenal wingers’ massive improvement

Eddie Nketiah’s dramatic late goal against Manchester United gave Arsenal all three points, continuing their impressive start to the Premier League season. Arsenal dominated the clash as they enjoyed more possession of the ball and produced more scoring opportunities than the Red Devils did. Nketiah and Bukayo Saka in particular stood out since United struggled to keep them quiet throughout the 90 minutes..

Saka put on a fantastic performance scoring a banger from outside the penalty box, as United struggled to keep him checked. And just after the win, a video of Mikel Arteta discussing his wingers has resurfaced. Arsenal wingers, particularly Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have blossomed under Arteta, enjoying their best season at the club. While Saka has amassed 7 goals and 7 assists, Martinelli has racked up 7 goals and 2 assists in their 19 Premier League games.

Their burst of form could be explained  by the video, where Arteta explains the style he wants his wingers and full-backs to emulate. Arteta can be seen telling:

“Because I don’t like creating lines between the wide players. Why? Because the full-back passes to the wide player like this. His back’s to the goal. He can’t progress the play. There’s always someone at his bum. He cannot play forward. When you do it like this, the angles you create, you’re always receiving the ball like this.”

Videos of Antony’s performance for United against Arsenal on Sunday were played as Arteta described what he does not want from his team with the Brazilian winger’s movements matching Arteta’s description. Furthermore, video clips of Saka’s offensive runs from Arsenal’s most recent win over Tottenham were played as he finished that sentence.

Arteta managing to get the best performance out of his players happens to be the main difference between Saka and the £85m Antony, who has only scored 3 goals in 11 Premier League games. There’s no doubt Mikel Arteta has been by far most successful of the current crop of managers that has emerged, of course after all he has learnt from the best, Pep Guardiola while his time as assistant manager at Manchester City.