Rewind to Aug. 28, when Manchester City inflicted a humiliating 5-0 defeat on Arsenal, their third Premier League loss in a row following miserable outings against Brentford and Chelsea. It was the first time in 67 years the Gunners had lost their opening three games in a campaign and the continued presence of manager Mikel Arteta on the sidelines was dividing the fanbase.
Yet Arteta was backed by his bosses and urged the fans, with a phrase borrowed from NBA team Philadelphia 76ers, to “trust the process.” It was a rallying cry asking them to believe in the work he is doing alongside the Gunners’ hierarchy. After spending around £150m in the summer on reinforcements — more than any other Premier League team, with defenders Ben White (£50m), Takehiro Tomiyasu (£16m) and Nuno Tavares (£8m), goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale (£25m), midfielders Martin Odegaard (£35m) and Albert Sambi Lokonga (£15m) arriving at the Emirates — the north London club still wasn’t exactly where it wanted to be, but the former club captain knew better things were coming.
Fast forward three months and Arsenal sit fifth in the table, enjoying the league’s longest unbeaten run — eight games, including six wins — with a clear sense of direction. The fans are back on board and Arteta is happy.
In their last Premier League outing against Watford on Nov. 7, Arteta celebrated his 100th game as Arsenal manager and his numbers are surprisingly impressive: 54 wins, 20 draws, 26 losses. If you consider games won after a penalty shootout (which is officially a draw for stats), Arteta is actually on 56 victories.
That is only two fewer than George Graham (1986-1995), but three more than the legendary Arsene Wenger at the same stage of their coaching careers at Arsenal. Arteta’s win rate is 54%, compared to Wenger’s 51%, while he also holds a lower loss ratio (18% vs. 26%) after a century of appearances in the Gunners’ dugout.
The other key areas of comparison with Wenger’s early days appear very similar, too. Arteta has 163 goals for, 97 against and 38 clean sheets in an arguably more competitive Premier League for his first 100 games. When Wenger arrived in 1996, his team boasted 157 goals for, 84 against and 42 clean sheets over the same span.
In stark contrast, however, Arteta’s first 100 games have been a rollercoaster, with highs and lows almost every week. Winning an FA Cup and a Community Shield in his first six months as a manager was great, but it perhaps raised expectations of further short-term success while he was still learning. He’s still learning, of course, and still grappling with an imbalanced and aging Arsenal squad, lacking in certain positions and unable to find consistency. But now there is more hope for the future.
What Arteta has tried to do
It seemed logical at the start of his tenure that Arteta wanted to emulate Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, having joined his backroom staff as assistant from 2016-19. Arteta wanted his side to mirror City, though while the principles of play he wanted to implement were similar, the delivery was far from City’s standard.
At times, what he was asking of his players was too complex for an inherited squad not of his own making, so he worked on a simplified structure that better suited the players at his disposal. Having tried a variety of formations, there were still similarities with Guardiola, especially in how he used “asymmetrical” wide players (right-footed players on the left, and vice versa), but this season has seen Arsenal develop their own identity.
Looking at their 3-1 win against Aston Villa on Oct. 22, Arsenal set up in a 4-4-2 formation for the first time under Arteta, with Alexandre Lacazette just behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka filling the wide positions. Lacazette’s purpose was to play between the lines and link up the play, but more importantly, he was asked to block Villa’s holding midfielder, Douglas Luiz, who was responsible for starting all their attacks. The plan worked perfectly and the Gunners outplayed and outsmarted Villa.
It naturally took Arteta some time to settle, but it seems his team are now comfortable in possession, efficient in quick attacking transitions, can set their defence in a low block or a high press, and look more confident in beating the opposition press. Thanks to the work of coach Nicolas Jover, they are also one of the best teams in the league when it comes to set pieces.
Which players have shone?
To find an identity, the 39-year-old had to rebuild the squad. From the 40 players who have featured under him in the Premier League so far at Arsenal, 14 have left. Last summer, all six summer signings were aged 23 or under, which led Arsenal to have the youngest starting XI in the league this season with an average of 24 years and 242 days. His back five (Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Kieran Tierney) only started to play together on Matchday Four, which was the start of this superb run.
The impact and leadership of goalkeeper Ramsdale, the centre-back partnership of White and Gabriel, the attacking talent of Tierney down the left and solidity of Tomiyasu at right-back has made the Arsenal defence really strong. If anything, it’s the strongest and most disciplined it has even been in Arteta’s 100 games in charge.
On top of that, the manager has been a key part in the emergence of Smith Rowe and Saka, the two prodigies from the Arsenal Academy in Hale End.
Saka has been Arsenal’s best player since Arteta’s arrival and the player the most used by the Spaniard, featuring in 82 games. While, given Smith Rowe went on a six-month loan to Huddersfield in January 2020, the impact of the 21-year-old has been exceptional and rarely seen in the Premier League at his age. Arsenal have a 58% win percentage with him as a starter, compared to 33% without. Every time Smith Rowe scores — he’s found the net in 12 different games since making his Premier League debut — Arsenal have won.
The turning point?
The turning point in Arteta’s 100 games in charge is without a doubt the game against Chelsea on Dec. 26, 2020. Arsenal were 15th in the table at the time, and winless in their last seven. With little reason to be cautious, Arteta started Smith Rowe, Saka and Gabriel Martinelli (all 20 years old or younger) at the time, in attack and the Gunners played with intensity, an aggressive high press and plenty of movement.
Their 3-1 win that day proved to be a seminal moment. Since then, Arsenal have won 67 points in the Premier League. Only Manchester City (86) and Chelsea (68), with new manager Thomas Tuchel for most of it, have more over the same period of time.
There are more challenges ahead for Arteta, starting with a tough trip to Liverpool on Saturday — they’ve played three times in the league under the Spaniard, winning once and losing twice — but the aim now is to keep building on the last three months.
Beyond that, Arteta’s goal is for his next 100 games in charge to be more successful than the first.
BALTIMORE — Journalism won the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, coming from behind down the stretch to make good on the lofty expectations of being the odds-on favorite in the middle leg of the Triple Crown two weeks after finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby.
Finishing first in a field of nine horses that did not include Sovereignty but featured some of the best competition in the country, Journalism gave trainer Michael McCarthy his second Preakness victory. It is Umberto Rispoli’s first in a Triple Crown race, and he is the first jockey from Italy to win one of them.
Gosger was second by a half-length after getting passed by Journalism just before the wire. Sandman was third and Goal Oriented fourth. Journalism went 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.37.
Journalism thrived on a warm day that dried out the track after torrential rain fell at Pimlico Race Course for much of the past week. Those conditions suited him better than the slop at Churchill Downs in the Derby.
Sovereignty did not take part after his owners and trainer Bill Mott decided to skip the Preakness, citing the two-week turnaround, and aimed for the Belmont on June 7. That made this a fifth time in seven years that the Preakness, for various reasons, was contested without a Triple Crown bid at stake.
But Journalism staked his claim for 3-year-old horse of the year by winning the $2 million American classic race run at the old Pimlico Race Course for the last time before it’s torn down and rebuilt. The Preakness is set to be held at nearby Laurel Park, between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., next year before a planned return to the new Pimlico in 2027.
Journalism is the first horse to win the Preakness after running in the Kentucky Derby since Mark Casse-trained War of Will in 2019. Only two others from the 19 in the Derby participated in the Preakness: Casse’s Sandman and fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas’ American Promise.
Lukas, the 89-year-old who has saddled the most horses in Preakness history, referred to McCarthy once this week as “the new guy.” This was just McCarthy’s second, and he’s 2 for 2 after Rombauer sprung the upset as an 11-1 long shot in 2021.
The Minnesota Twins are on a roll. They extended their winning streak to 11 games Thursday with a 4-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles that completed a series sweep. Their confidence carried over to social media, too, as they trolled the Orioles.
Minnesota used a three-run third inning to propel itself to victory, with home runs from DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Byron Buxton.
The Twins hold the longest win streak in MLB; its their their longest run of victories since winning 12 straight from April 22 to May 4 last season, according to ESPN Research. The franchise record is 15 set in 1991.
Minnesota poked fun at Baltimore’s namesake with a post after the game, referring to the Orioles also being known as the “O’s” — and swapping a zero in for the O.
Campbell worked out at first before Friday night’s series opener against the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora addressed the situation when he spoke to reporters before the game.
“Looking for options,” Cora told reporters. “Obviously, we’re getting Romy [Gonzalez] probably at the end of the week, early next week, but just introduce him to first base and see how he looks. That’s where we’re at.”
Casas ruptured the tendon in his left knee while running to first base during a game against the Minnesota Twins earlier this month. His replacement at first, Gonzalez, was placed on the 10-day injured list because of a left quad contusion last week.
One potential replacement, star slugger Rafael Devers, said after Casas went down that he would not be open to moving to first after he went from third base to designated hitter during spring training to make room for Alex Bregman.
Campbell, one of baseball’s top prospects, broke camp with the big league team and has been its primary second baseman through the start of the season. He has also played in the outfield and at shortstop and third base in his career, but never first.
Asked what he would need to see for Campbell to be a realistic option at first for his team, Cora added: “The process started, right? It can take 10 days, 15 days, a month, two months. But we started the process and introduced him to first.”
