Mikel Arteta's Arsenal: The little details that have made such a big difference.

Following his 3 years of intuition under Pep Guardiola as his assistant, Arteta took the stride forward and became the head coach of a depleted Arsenal side. Since his arrival, Arteta has stuck with an asymmetrical 4-2-3-1 side with Özil, Luiz and Xhaka being consistent starters.

Now let's move on to Arsenal's build-up under Arteta. Arteta has been using a 2-3 buildup shape at Arsenal to initiate passing angles in the #6 space. This has been done so to evade while Arsenal will regularly adjust their original shape in order to progress play,

The centre-backs, especially David Luiz, are encouraged to drive the ball forward to engage opposition pressure in order to work balls through the lines or work a switch ball to the weak side. (Credit for graphic- @craigmoniz_)

Arteta has made an obvious to include Mesut Özil as a key component in the build-up moving him into areas in the ten space as well as the right and left half-spaces to receive possession and work combinations with the winger and fullback. This has led to his return in form.

Arteta has also adapted to his playing staff at his disposal when it comes to the substructure of his system. For instance, when Ceballos was recalled into the side Arsenal utilised more a 3+1 shape with Ceballos more of a deep-lying distributor finding space to Ozil.

Now let's move onto Arsenal's pressing under Arteta. Arsenal press in a 4-2-3-1 as they have more recently been willing to switch to a compact 4-4-2 high press in certain situations.

Arsenal press in a narrow fashion with the wide players having central focuses as opposed to pressing from lateral areas.

Ozil will be tasked with marking the defensive midfielder and cutting out the passing lanes into the area when the ball is moved to the wide areas. When Lacazette moves out to press the wide areas then Aubameyang will tuck in as the touchline winger to intercept switches.

Arsenal have more recently switched to a 4-4-2 high press with the attacking midfielder pushing up next to the striker to mark the centre-backs as the midfield four push up to close the spaces in the midfield zone.

Arteta has used a 4-4-2 defensive shape with Ozil alongside Lacazette while Aubameyang will drop to the flanks to support the fullbacks. This has proved helpful with a rotating cast of fullbacks as they are rarely left to fend for themselves in 1v1 situations against wingers.

Arsenal keep the spaces small in their defensive block as all the free players have a marker within recoverable distance to close them down if they receive the ball.

This defensive block has seen the centre-backs being able to defend the space in front of them with likes of David Luiz and Mustafi have improved in this regard. Due to the lack of pace of most of Arsenal’s centre-backs, they also work frequent offside traps as the duo struggle.

In conclusion: Arteta has rejuvenated what seemed a crestfallen Arsenal side both mentally and performance-wise. Whilst also saving Xhaka's Arsenal career and instigating resurgence in form for Ozil. With the correct funds and Arteta at the helm, the future looks bright for AFC.