It’s January 2020, and Mikel Arteta looks like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.
And indeed it has: For the first time since taking over as manager of Arsenal, the club for whom he finished out a 15-year career as a midfielder, the Gunners have won a match, and emphatically so. Arteta’s side trounced Manchester United in a 2–0 victory that wasn’t really ever in question.
“All of the things that I demanded and that I wanted to see on the pitch actually happened today,” Arteta said at the postgame press conference with a smile.
