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

Arteta is Rewarding the Faith With a Clear Arsenal Vision

The entire squad is now pulling in the same direction. There have been no reports coming out of disgruntled players when there very well could be. Bernd Leno, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and others have seen their playing time dramatically reduced, but still, the boat has not been rocked. Whether that is because everything is now kept in house or that Arteta has had conversations with players remains to be seen, but the squad is no longer divided by fractures within the team.

We were urged to trust the process and just weeks ago, after consecutive losses to Manchester United and Everton, both of which Arsenal led first but ended up losing, that faith was tested. Surely now, however, people and fans have seen enough to suggest Arteta is the person to take this club forward.

There will be road bumps along the way with such a young squad which could have been the case against United and Everton, but overall, since Boxing Day last season, when Arsenal defeated Chelsea, the Gunners have won the second-most points in the Premier League (82) with only Manchester City (110) above them on the list. Arteta has more points than Liverpool and Chelsea while now having Arsenal firmly entrenched inside the top four (six points clear of Tottenham who has three games in hand).

Since opening the season with three consecutive losses, Arteta has guided Arsenal to a record of 11 wins, two draws, and three losses while improving the club’s goal difference to +9 from -9 in the process.

Arsenal is far from the finished product, but what fans what to see is improvement and a style of playing football. At this point, both are on display for everyone to see. Their next clash against City will tell us a lot about how far they have come from the 5-0 thumping in August.

Regardless of the result against Pep Guardiola’s men, Arsenal are no longer a soft and rudderless team with no backbone. They are led by a Spaniard who is driving the culture himself and is not afraid to call players out on their behavior.

A new era of Arsenal Football Club is slowly coming to fruition and while they are not considered to be the team they once were under Arsene Wenger, maybe, just maybe they are developing into something with similar levels of excitement.

Led by the club’s Hale End Academy graduates, a mix of younger leaders, and a manager who has instilled a culture built on accountability and standards that were severely lacking, the Gunners are moving into a new age with a host of future stars taking center stage.