Arsenal Vs Chelsea: More Mikel Arteta progress please

Arsenal host Chelsea on Sunday afternoon in Mikel Arteta’s second game in charge. What progress might we see from the players who are still learning a new system?

It was never going to be easy for Mikel Arteta. Inheriting a lacklustre squad that were coached to within an inch of oblivion, with little confidence and an uncertain relationship with the supporters, the new Arsenal coach had a lot of groundwork to lay down very quickly. And he had little opportunity to do so.

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Given the relentless nature of the festive period, Arteta has only had two or three training sessions between matches to drill specific plans and practises into his players. Unlike enjoying a six-week preseason, he is having to rush his preparation and simply hope the players can best execute in any way possible.

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Nevertheless, in his first match in charge, a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth on Boxing Day, there were tangible signs of improvement. Arsenal passed the ball quicker and more accurately than they have all season. They created more chances than they have in an away game all year. They mostly shackled the Bournemouth counter-attack, bar a couple of individual moments from Ryan Fraser and Josh King, and they controlled the game more so than any other thus far. You could make an argument that it was their best performance of the league campaign, though that says more about their other outings than it does the brilliance of Arteta’s coaching.

Clear progress was made. But now the real work starts. Three days later, Arteta leads his team back to the Emirates, where he will be welcomed back home as a hero, to face fellow top-four hopefuls and stragglers, Chelsea. While winning the match is obviously a priority, showing a development in performance is more pertinent to the long-term success of Arteta’s reign. And speaking prior to Sunday, Arteta revealed a little about what he now wants to see from his players:

"“I would like to start to see a little bit more control in some situations, and more awareness of why things happened. The players have to understand two seconds earlier the picture that is coming, and where the solutions are. But that will come over time. They will pick it up. We don’t have much time to train in, I only have I think two sessions in one week with the starting XI, which is nothing. But through video, through talks, through individual meetings, slowly, they have to embrace that information… and we will start to build some fundamentals and principles that as a team will help them”"

This greater tactical awareness is something that Manchester City have become known for. They create overloads in possession on the flanks due to their positional understanding, they push players into offensive areas to cause confusion for the opposing defence, and yet they remain defensively balanced at the other end, understanding the spatial relationship between each individual player. And now Arteta wants to replicate it at Arsenal.

The numerous decisions that go into executing such a system make it very difficult. Playing in a cohesive manner requires every single player to understand their respective role innately and then execute it instantaneously, without hesitation, uncertainty or a lack of speed and fitness. It is not easy and it takes just one error to undermine.

Nevertheless, Arteta is building something new at Arsenal. There were signs of improvement against Bournemouth. Will we now see more of the same against Chelsea on Sunday?