Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are competing for the English Premier League title for the second year running and now prepare to face Bayern in the Champions League quarter-finals. Raphael Honigstein, an expert on both English and German football, looks at the strengths of the Gunners.
Analysing Arsenal
Arteta spoke of a “magical night” at the Emirates Stadium after the shootout victory over Porto. In fact, the team's progress to the quarter-finals exuded a rare magic in two respects.
On the one hand, because it was a feat Arsenal had not achieved since 2010, when Arsene Wenger was in charge. But above all, the composed victory gave the Gunners' fans boundless feelings of happiness. Arsenal's young team, who had often been accused of being “immature” and “too emotional” by prominent critics in recent months, had won a close, scruffy game 1-0 by keeping their cool and their nerve in the shootout. “We were composed today, confident in ourselves and fully committed,” praised Arteta. “That was an important step in our development as a club.”
Since the former midfielder returned to North London as a coach in 2019, things have slowly but steadily improved. The club won the FA Cup in his first year. As a result, the owners and fans were patient enough to allow Arteta and sporting director Edu to rebuild the team for the long term. They failed to qualify for the Champions League two seasons in a row, but last season the team – led by elegant playmaker and captain Martin Odegaard – shone with highly dynamic combination football that was obviously inspired by Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. Arteta had worked as an assistant coach under the former Bayern boss for three years after retiring.
New signings Rice and Havertz make impact
The fact that they ‘only’ finished second at the end of an exciting title race had less to do with a lack of maturity than with injuries that the somewhat thin squad was unable to compensate for. This summer, Arsenal successfully addressed precisely that issue. Declan Rice, the €115 million midfielder from West Ham United, has taken the team to a new level with his leadership qualities, while Kai Havertz (€75 million from Chelsea) is increasingly coming into his own as a false nine alongside young star Bukayo Saka.
Unlike Wenger's team, which regularly lacked stability in the latter stages of his 22-year reign, Arsenal now also have a top-class defence. There is hardly a team in Europe that allows so few goalscoring chances. “Everyone talks about what we do with the ball, but our counter-pressing and ball-winning make it incredibly difficult for opponents,” said Odegaard. And if the team ever does run out of inspiration, they can rely on set-piece coach Nicolas Jover and his tightly choreographed corners and free-kicks. Arsenal have already scored 19 times from dead balls in the Premier League - a league record.
Highly charged Emirates Stadium
The crowd is also part of this success story. The volume and atmosphere at the Emirates, which used to be rather quiet and quickly became discontented, are now reaching new highs week after week as the fans enjoy the team's rapid improvement. Despite the difficult draw, Arsenal are listed by the British bookmakers as the second favourites to win the Champions League behind Manchester City. Preventing another chapter in this magical comeback story will be no easy task for Bayern.
Honigstein’s analysis appeared in April’s edition of Bayern members’ magazine ‘51’
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