Mikel Arteta has transformed Arsenal from a club struggling for consistency into an established force at the top of English and European football, according to Sky Sports pundit Nick Wright.
Arteta recently signed a new contract with Arsenal, extending his tenure after more than six years in charge and continuing the project that has seen the club return to regular title contention and Champions League football.
Speaking on a special Sky Sports podcast, Wright highlighted just how dramatically Arsenal have changed since Arteta replaced Unai Emery in 2019.
Dramatic impact
“The club is unrecognisable from 2019, on and off the pitch,” Wright said.
“It’s been a collective effort but Arteta is the driving force behind it. He’s one of few constants over these six or seven years.”
Wright believes Arteta has helped restore Arsenal to the elite level, with the club now regularly competing for major honours and reaching the latter stages of the Champions League.
“He has brought the club back to the elite,” he added. “This is a team winning titles now, also consistently reaching the latter stages of the Champions League.”
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Losses show progression
Arsenal have still suffered setbacks, most recently a heavy defeat against Brighton, but Wright believes the scale of that loss actually highlights how far the club have progressed.
“Obviously, there are still imperfections. There’s still fallibility. The Brighton game showed that,” he said.
“But what made that defeat such a surprise was that it was so uncharacteristic, and that tells you a lot about the standards that he has set.”
Wright pointed out that Arsenal had not suffered a three-goal Premier League defeat for more than three years before the Brighton loss.
“It just doesn’t really happen,” he said.
That consistency has become one of the defining characteristics of Arteta’s Arsenal, with Wright arguing that the club have developed into a team capable of competing at the highest level on a regular basis.
The Spaniard’s new contract represents another show of faith in a manager who has overseen one of the most significant transformations in Arsenal’s recent history.
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