Arsenal Vs Bournemouth: The impact of Mikel Arteta

Arsenal drew with Bournemouth on Boxing Day in Mikel Arteta’s first game in charge. But what impact did the new head coach have on his former team? I analyse the performance — and the role of the head coach — here.

It finally came. Arsenal’s first match under a permanent head coach not named Unai Emery. After relieving the Spaniard of his duties on November 29th, almost a month afterwards, the Gunners took to the pitch with a new permanent manager stood on the sidelines, this time Mikel Arteta.

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In the first managerial positon of his career at just 37 years of age, it would be fair to say that no one really knew what to expect when Arteta took the reins in north London. There was no prior style or system to go off, other than of his boss, Pep Guardiola, the coaching godfather of modern football.

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Nevertheless, even after just three training sessions amid the typically hectic festive period, the Boxing Day 1-1 draw with Bournemouth did provide some tactical tweaks that have clearly come from Arteta’s impact on the training ground.

Perhaps most noticeably, Arsenal played at a much higher tempo in possession. Even during the match, you could hear Arteta on the sidelines demanding his players pass the ball quicker, including shouting ‘Papa, quickly, quickly’ when he received the ball from an Ainsley Maitland-Niles throw-in.

This level of play was not maintained throughout the full 90 minutes, of course. It is difficult to play quickly and accurately in possession. It takes high-level players and years of practise, neither of which Arteta has at his disposal. Nevertheless, the intention was there. And it had an impact.

Arsenal had more shots in the first half than they have all season. Only in two away games under Unai Emery did they have more than 17 shots they had in the entire match. They have never had more than 17 shots away from home this season. You could make an argument that this was the best Premier League performance of the season, though that says more about the rest of the campaign than it does this particular showing.

There were also some tactical tweaks. Lucas Torreira, who was the best player on the pitch, played at the base of the midfield, right-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles moved centrally in build-up, Granit Xhaka shifting to ‘left-back’ to allow actual left-back Bukayo Saka push into more advanced areas, while Mesut Ozil was used in a very similar role to Kevin de Bruyne at Manchester City, tasked with finding pockets of space to after Bournemouth pressed high to release in behind their midfield.

The pressing was also more cohesive off the ball, Reiss Nelson and Alexandre Lacazette especially effective in this area, while Bournemouth did not create as many chances as previous opponents — their goal came immediately from a turnover after Arsenal played down a corridor, while they had only 12 shots, four on target, in the whole match.

This was not the perfect performance, of course. It was never going to be. And as the Arteta project continues, there is still much work to be done. But based on Arsenal’s performance against Bournemouth, there were signs that he can have a positive impact on the team. And at this stage, that is all you can ask for.