Arsenal: 4 things we want to see vs Manchester City

2. Cohesion From the Squad Without Arteta

An already daunting task was made more difficult when the news broke of Arteta testing positive for Covid.

Some managers won’t be missed from the sideline to the same degree, whether that’s due to the assistant also being vocal or if, like Arsene Wenger, they let the players manage the situations during the halves.

It’s different with Arteta though. He’s like the 12th man on the sidelines, gesturing to each player on where to stand, where to move, or encouraging them on their own respective languages. It will be strange not to hear ‘allez Laca allez’ bellowed from the dugout.

The players have been working with him for long enough and spent enough training sessions and tactical meetings to understand their vision, but to what degree is his pitch side manner part of that?

Will they sink deep without him gesticulating to push up? Will they tweak aspects of their games of their own accord without having the manager to call them over when there is a stoppage of play?

Admittedly, of all the matches this will be the worst example of how they do respond simply down to the quality of the opposition, but it will nonetheless be fascinating to see how key it is in matches.

Airpod Albert has his work cut out.

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