Mikel Arteta’s show of strength lifts Arsenal’s Premier League gloom

At Arsenal, the grey clouds of gloom had settled over the blank blue skies of the summer restart with indecent haste.

Southampton defender Jack Stephens brings down Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Picture: AFP

At Arsenal, the grey clouds of gloom had settled over the blank blue skies of the summer restart with indecent haste.

A month ago Mikel Arteta was the figurehead of the club’s bold new era, unbeaten in the Premier League this year, and being hailed as an unlikely public-health hero for his role in postponing the last round of fixtures before lockdown. Two defeats later, Arsenal were once again encircled by that familiar air of self-sabotaging farce and Arteta suddenly looked like a man saddled with an onerous rebuilding project.

Arsenal entered their latest fixture, at Southampton, with an injured goalkeeper, a paper-thin central defence, and regrettable contracts weighing on the club like pendulous millstones. Where do you even begin to start?

With the setting of standards. With a show of strength. Arteta’s first act of this match day was to display a disciplinary hard line as resolutely immovable as his Lego-man hair, defenestrating Matteo Guendouzi from the squad after the Frenchman grabbed the throat of Brighton’s Neal Maupay on Saturday. His team backed him up, with a performance that was light on symphonic attacking play but big on character and resilience. Under pressure, under scrutiny, under a searing sun, Arsenal didn’t melt and won 2-0.

Having lost against Brighton in a 4-3-3, Arteta flexed the system to a 3-4-3, with Kieran Tierney tucking in as the left-sided centre back, and Bukayo Saka resplendent at left wing back, in a position that harnesses his defensive moxie and his eye for a cross. Rob Holding and Shkodran Mustafi were relatively solid, and Arsenal’s goals were scored by two players born in London in 1999: Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock.

In the stands, Mesut Ozil, unused again, put his feet up and sheltered under an umbrella, inviting the inescapable symbolism of a man in the shadows.

Arsenal’s start was impressive. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, sporting the armband and playing with an influence befitting Arsenal’s best player, rifled a shot into Alex McCarthy’s breadbasket, before the away side put the ball in the net.

Granit Xhaka, who for all his much-bewailed flaws does not lack passing vision, slid a beautiful through-ball to Saka, who centred for Nketiah to poke in. A VAR check revealed that the assistant’s flag was correctly raised.

With one half of the pitch lit by bright sunshine, it was Aubameyang’s shadow that was most restless, constantly threatening Southampton’s high line. One run took him clear of the defence and latch on to Tierney’s aerial pass, before his angled shot rattled the crossbar, via a critical, almost imperceptible touch from McCarthy.

Ten minutes later, the Southampton goalkeeper was slamming the ball into his own net in a tableau of apoplexy. Trying to play out from the back, he had sidefooted a pass straight to Nketiah, who knocked the ball past him and tapped it into the net.

At halftime, Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, who had spent much of the first half verbally manoeuvring his players into place with the precision of a fastidious theatre director, decided on a change of cast.

And Southampton exerted the more sustained pressure in the second half but earned no reward.

Instead, Arsenal sealed the game. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg played a horrendous backpass to Jack Stephens, who had to bring down Aubameyang and accept a red card. From the ensuing free kick, Alexandre Lacazette drilled the rebound at McCarthy, who spilt the ball to the grateful Willock.

This team still has a long way to go to recapture the easy connectivity of the Arsene Wenger era. But this was a good day for Arteta, which began with a firm hand, and ended in a fragile hope.

THE TIMES