Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright believes that the club are making good progress under Mikel Arteta. The Spanish manager was appointed as the replacement for Unai Emery back in December 2019. After a lot of doubts were raised about the experience of the former Arsenal midfielder when it comes to coaching world-class players, the 38-year-old has been able to create a strong impression. He has clearly learned a lot from his time under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. For several years, Arsenal were criticised as a team who could not perform in away matches against the top six.
Such a criticism has come to an end with Arsenal registering a 1-0 win over Manchester United last weekend. This was the first away win against a top six outfit by Arsenal in the last five years. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the penalty that provided a victory for the gunners. Wright says that Arsenal have done plenty of good business during the summer and it is again a sign of maturity from Arteta. The former Arsenal forward expects the positivity to continue going forward. Even after a run of four victories from the opening seven matches, Arsenal find themselves in the ninth place of the table. This is largely down to a string of good performances from teams like Leicester, Southampton, Wolves, and Aston Villa.
“It’s a massive win for Arsenal. The thing is that since Mikel has been there, there has been progress.He has got the players he’s got to work with and it’s changed in terms of defensively, intensity, the culture and what he’s trying to do.We saw as well with some of the players – Gabriel, on a booking in the first half and the way he played was brilliant, [Thomas] Partey as well. He’s slowly going to integrate the players he wants to play the system he wants to play,” said Ian Wright.