Mikel Arteta has signed a new contract with Arsenal, keeping him manager of the Gunners until 2030.
It’s reward for Arteta finally seeing Arsenal over the line last season, winning a first Premier League trophy since 2004. It came after a few years of close misses, raising fears that Arsenal could become the nearly men of the 2020s.
The title success was testament to the work Arteta has done at Arsenal, and the trust placed in him when things didn’t look too positive. Arteta took charge of his first Arsenal game on Boxing Day 2019, a Premier League draw against Bournemouth. Although Arsenal won the FA Cup in 2020, the Gunners also finished eighth in the league — their lowest finish since 1994/95. They repeated the league feat the following season, this time without winning a major trophy.
Arteta’s future was in doubt and there were some quiet calls for the Spaniard to be moved on. But Arsenal’s board kept faith and the rest is history. And Arteta’s work has been clear to see.
How Arteta lifted Arsenal to become England’s best
Defence-first rebuild
To quote Sir Alex Ferguson: Defence wins you titles. A rock-solid back line was at the heart of Arsenal’s title success last season and it was a long rebuild by Arteta. The defence that Arteta inherited in 2019 wasn’t the worst in the league, but it wasn’t without its problems.
Arsenal made 18 errors leading to shots in the 2019/20 season, with five leading the goals. Bernd Leno and David Luiz were responsible for four of those errors leading to goals, sharing two each. While they weren’t the highest in the league, it was counter-productive to Arsenal’s aim. Overall since Arteta took charge, Arsenal have only made 34 errors leading to a goal — the second-fewest in the Premier League among the ever-present teams. And it’s only one fewer than Manchester City, who have won the title four times since Arteta became Arsenal manager.
“Only Man City”. That’s the story for a lot of Arsenal’s defensive metrics, and it’s no shame to only trail a team to have won the title four times in a row. Arsenal are just one clean sheet short of 100 under Arteta in the Premier League, conceding just 245 goals in 253 games. Despite all the early worries, Arsenal are one of just two teams to have conceded less than a goal per game since Arteta took charge.
Breaking things down a bit further, again Arsenal rank second for Expected Goals conceded per match since Arteta took charge. Their 1.08 xGC per game is second only to Man City, who are the only team with less than 1.0 (0.98 xGC). This comes despite Arsenal ranking third behind Man City and Liverpool for their 9.87 shots conceded per game under Arteta. But that’s more due to opponents being more desperate in bad scoring positions. And even if it wasn’t, both of those teams have won multiple titles in the Arteta era.
Quality in attack
Arsenal have come under some criticism at the other end of the pitch. But they are comfortably third when it comes to goals. The Gunners have scored 275 goals in 253 games under Arteta, with only Man City (586) and Liverpool (522) netting more during his reign. But fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur are some distance off with 424 goals scored.
Arsenal players have been more clinical too. They’ve scored the third-most goals despite ranking fifth for shots (3,656) and shots on target (1,256). The Gunners’ conversion rate of 12.99% is the third-best in the Premier League since Arteta took charge, only just behind Man City (13.8%) and Brentford (13.03%).
The same story remains when it comes to xG. Only Man City (2.13) and Liverpool (2.08) have averaged more xG per game in the Premier League than Arsenal’s 1.82 since Boxing Day 2019. Arsenal do drop slightly to fourth with their 1.75 post-shot xG, but it hasn’t been enough to hamper their attack.
Bukayo Saka has been the main man for Arsenal under Arteta. The Englishman has scored 63 goals in 221 league games for the Spaniard, more than any other Arsenal player. He ranks 10th in the Premier League during that time. Saka also sits fourth in the Premier League for assists during Arteta’s reign, with 49 in total. Martin Odegaard ranks second among Arsenal players for his 37 assists, while Gabriel Martinelli is second for 40 goals.
Set-piece specialists
You cannot talk about Arteta’s Arsenal without mentioning set-pieces. And this isn’t a negative. You cannot predict many things on a football pitch, no matter how much you plan. When it comes to open play, you’re at the mercy of so many variables. So why wouldn’t you spend more time planning the thing you can control the most — set-pieces. It’s these small margins that turn nearly-men into Premier League winners.
Since Arteta’s first game in charge of Arsenal, the Gunners have averaged 0.4 xG from set-pieces in the Premier League — more than any other team. Liverpool, Newcastle United, Everton and Man City are next up with 0.35 xG. Arsenal also rank third for their 0.37 post-shot xG from set-pieces. Overall Arsenal have recorded 73 goal assists from set play under Arteta, the second-most in the Premier League.
But set-piece success isn’t just about attacking. Arsenal have averaged just 0.21 xGC from set-pieces under Arteta, the fourth-most of any team to have played a single game. And two of the teams above Arsenal are Hull City and Coventry City. The other is, of course, Man City. And while Arsenal have still conceded 44 goal assists from set play, it’s the joint-third best of any ever-present team during Arteta’s reign. And only six of those came last season.