Arsenal: 5 improvements under Arteta this season

5. Arteta is Building a Fitter and Stronger Arsenal Team

How many players have we seen fall down with cramp in the latter stages of matches this season? A fair few.

This is a group that is pushing itself harder than ever before and that comes down to the intensity with which they play and train. There are always concerns of burning out, especially with international football, but this being a group as young as it means they have the physical capacity to adapt.

Arsenal have direct runners of the ball who are now playing with a higher tempo in transition and greater aggression off it. Boasting the right profiles to suit those demands aids this improvement and it’s visible on the pitch that this team is growing in fitness (much of which is organic).

There is a newfound hunger in how Arsenal approach games. Some of that is down to the mentality and how games are approached, but a lot of it is due to the stylistic demands and how fit and aggressive these players are in and out of possession.

One key attribute of that is having someone like Odegaard who is relentless in his work rate, something that is also evident in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s performances. He too is distinctly more engaged in matches with his pressing and work out of possession.

Having the right mentality and a strong level of fitness is pivotal to this.