Mikel Arteta's Arsenal appointment imminent: What the former Gunner brings to the Emirates

All eyes were on Mikel Arteta in the opposition dugout at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday as Manchester City paid a visit to North London. With Manchester City’s title hopes vanishing by the week and the scars of the Manchester derby defeat still fresh in the minds of Pep Guardiola’s men, Arsenal were likely to be in for a long night against the reigning Premier League champions. Manchester City cruised to a 3-0 win, courtesy of Kevin De Bruyne's masterclass. However, Manchester City were left peeved after the win for one particular reason. 

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Mikel Arteta approached by Arsenal for managerial post

Reports have emerged that Arsenal's head of football Raul Sanllehi paid a visit to Mikel Arteta last week before Arsenal's 3-0 loss to Manchester City at the Emirates. The Spaniard is now the frontrunner to fill the post vacated by Unai Emery last month. Mikel Arteta was also in the running to take over from Arsene Wenger last year. However, Unai Emery's experience meant that Emery pipped the former Arsenal player to the post. Now, it appears that Mikel Arteta could make his way back to Arsenal, three years after he hung up his boots at the club. With Arsenal interim manager Freddie Ljungberg issuing a plea to the Arsenal board to clear up the managerial situation, we could see Arteta take up the Arsenal hot seat sooner, rather than later. 

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Tactical nous, leadership and a backbone: What Mikel Arteta brings to Arsenal

Even when Robin van Persie was the captain at Arsenal, Mikel Arteta assumed the leadership role in the dressing room. The Spaniard quickly took to organising the midfield while Per Mertesacker, who arrived in the same window as Arteta, took to organising the backline. Shades of an organiser, therefore, were evident in Mikel Arteta even before he decided to step into the coaching scene. In 2016, Arteta was appointed as Manchester City's assistant coach. As of 2019, he has spent more than three years under Pep Guardiola. While Guardiola's methods are well-acclaimed, former Man City winger Leroy Sane pointed out that he learned a lot from Mikel Arteta during training. 

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So, that's leadership and a backbone. Coming to tactical nous, according to an article in The Athletic, a little-known fact is that Guardiola left Mikel Arteta in charge of the Man City squad against Arsenal, just four months into his tenure at City. In that game, Arteta deployed a 4-3-3 formation with Kevin De Bruyne starting on the left of the front three. On seeing that City were struggling to mount a comeback, he immediately decided to shift Kevin De Bruyne to the centre with Leroy Sane returning to his favoured left side. The result? A 2-1 win for City. Arteta may have spent just four months under Guardiola till then, but shades of the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager's tactical nouse were on show when Arteta took the reins. 

Arsenal's defence and midfield have been the problematic areas this season. With David Luiz at centre-back and a heavily rotated midfield pivot, Arsenal have lacked stability in the Premier League lately. Arteta, however, comes with the Pep Guardiola stamp of approval and a five-year legacy at Arsenal. For years, Arteta has been rated among the most tactically astute coaches in football. Moreover, a figure of just over £1m in compensation has been thrown around. The £1m in compensation, however, is a paltry sum to pay for the holy trinity of tactical nous, leadership and a backbone at the Emirates. 

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