Arsenal have taken great strides since Mikel Arteta’s appointment back in 2019.
Things haven’t always been so blissful at the Emirates for Arteta, who suffered a trialling start to life as the Arsenal manager.
Back-to-back eighth-place finishes and then missing out on the top four to Tottenham in the 2021/22 Premier League season was not the start the Spaniard would have wanted.
Fortunately, the struggles now resemble part of a blossoming journey, with Arsenal announcing themselves as title challengers since the 2022/23 campaign.
Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s impact at Arsenal
Arteta is building something special at Arsenal, putting the club’s culture and history at the centre of everything, bringing supporters closer to the project.
From changing the scenes off the pitch to raising the bar on it, Arteta’s impact sees the Gunners in touching distance of the Premier League title, with Manchester City needing to be usurped.
There’s not one player in particular who has been the driving force behind Arsenal’s recent success however, two player’s input has made the progression visible to all.
Speaking on the Inside Arsenal podcast, journalist Charles Watts pinpointed Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko as being markers of Arteta’s success.
“It shows the remarkable assent that Arsenal have been on since Jesus and Zinchenko came to the club,” Watts said.
“Both were seen as game changers, as level raisers and now a couple of years later, they look like they’re on the fringes.”
Arsenal signed the pair from Man City in the summer of 2022, with both talents bringing a new level of aspiration to the dressing room as a result of their silverware-laden stints at the Etihad.
Two years down the line and the duo are two players who have little use in Arteta’s favoured XI, emphasising why Watts used the defender and the striker to measure Arsenal’s success.
Mikel Arteta has been ruthless with squad selection
Arteta used the 2022/23 campaign to ultimately test the water over Arsenal’s title credentials.
The Spaniard’s favoured XI has been tweaked since, with there no longer room to accommodate Jesus and Zinchenko in the starting lineup.
While some of that has to do with the duo’s injury record during their time at the Emirates, the majority is brutally down to the fact that they’re not at the level the manager requires at this point in his project.
Zinchenko’s left-back presence has been upgraded with Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori, while Jesus is unable to get a look in due to the transformation of Kai Havertz.
Players come and go in football, which was very much the case during the summer transfer window as players outside of the preferred squad were axed, including academy graduates Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe.
Arteta is moving with the times by constantly upgrading his squad, with the impact of Jesus and Zinchenko highlighting just that.
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