Improved results over the next 10 games are vital if the manager is to get a chance at seeing through his long-term plan
The balance Arsenal must strike from this weekend is not lost on Mikel Arteta. “We are trying to build a medium-to-long-term project, which needs immediate results,” he said before Norwich’s visit on Saturday. “We cannot change that and we don’t want to change that, because we want results right now.”
Even though the season is only three league games old, they must not leave it any longer. Defeat against Daniel Farke’s side, who sit above bottom-placed Arsenal by virtue of having managed to score a goal, is unthinkable and would ramp up the pressure Arteta faces. He and his technical director, Edu, feel they have finally amassed a squad that can reverse a decade’s agonising decline; the problem they face is that, among supporters at least, credit is in danger of wearing to breaking point. Just under £150m of new talent must hit the ground running if those in charge are not to run out of road.
The backing Arteta has received from the Kroenke family this summer is extraordinary, particularly given the well-documented financial worries caused by a double whammy of Covid-19 and the absence of European football. A club that felt compelled to make 55 employees redundant a year ago, and took out a £120m government loan in January to alleviate cashflow problems, found circumstances had shifted to the extent they could amass comfortably the top flight’s biggest summer net spend. Arsenal have gone all in on the revamp Arteta craved and now they will seek a return.
In signing Ben White, Martin Ødegaard, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Aaron Ramsdale and Nuno Tavares, Arsenal feel they have planted seeds that will bear fruit in terms of performance level and, perhaps critically, resale value. There is plenty to like about the individuals, who are all 23 or under. Ødegaard, in particular, has proven quality and will require minimal integration time; White and Tomiyasu will add athleticism to a beleaguered backline and Lokonga, who plays with his head up and shows an admirable appreciation of space, has looked bright. All six should improve with top-level exposure and good coaching; the question is whether that will be enough to give Arteta the short-term uplift he desperately needs.
Arsenal’s next 10 league games, six of which they host, may prove a defining run for Arteta. If he can fairly point out a rough start to this campaign, which included chastening encounters with Chelsea and Manchester City while juggling a string of injury and Covid-related absences, then it would take some casuistry to dress up the coming sequence as anything but inviting. After facing Norwich, Arsenal play at Burnley; the subsequent two months see Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Watford and Newcastle visit the Emirates while Arsenal travel to Brighton, Leicester and Liverpool.