Arsenal future is bright under Mikel Arteta with youth leading the charge

The 5-0 win over Norwich on Boxing Day was the latest in a string of Arsenal performances that suggests the Gunners are on the road to recovery.

Now, a win against a depleted opposition at Carrow Road does not count for much, but in years gone by, this would have been a game that had “banana skin” written all over it. Since the 2-1 loss to Everton, Mikel Arteta has his side playing superb football.

In the last five outings, the Gunners have scored 19 goals and conceded just twice. Some will point at the level of opposition and that the only noteworthy victory was against West Ham. In every other game, Arsenal was expected to win.

While the squad will not be judged on wins against relegation fodder, it is those games that Arsenal has been winning, and comfortably so. The absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could have proved to be a distraction, but if anything, it has galvanized the group. Against Norwich when Bukayo Saka was repeatedly cut down, Alexandre Lacazette and Granit Xhaka made it a point to the referee and were standing up for their young teammate.

Arsenal future is bright under Mikel Arteta with youth leading the charge with fourth consecutive Premier League win after 5-0 Norwich rout

That kind of attitude has been missing for years with the club often described as having a soft underbelly and often bullied far too easily. Now we will get a proper gauge of this when Arsenal faces Manchester City next, but in all honesty, those are the games where the result is not as important – a positive result wouldn’t go amiss – but rather a performance where the club is not pounded into submission as we have been grown accustomed to over the years.

Arteta has transformed a once toothless side, void of any direction and emotion, into a team that plays together and works as a unit. Every player knows their role, where they are supposed to be at any given time and we are seeing the fruits of no European football this season.

Much was made of Arsenal’s exclusion from the elite club competitions this season, but there was one benefit:, more time on the training pitch. With only one game a week for the most part, while others are flying off all around the globe, Arteta has got to work on the training ground and instilled his non-negotiables.

Arteta stated in his press conference in the lead-up to the Norwich game that he doesn’t establish his authority by being ‘ruthless’. Instead, he expect respect and commitment while asking the playing group to do the right things every single day.

This is the style of leadership that has been non-existent over the last decade as players were often allowed to get away with murder during the final years of Arsene Wenger’s reign. One is not necessarily right over the other, but in order to change a culture there has to be utter dedication to the principles you install.

Our faith has been tested, but maybe Arteta is the man to take this club forward after all.

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