Football: Manchester City clash will offer barometer of progress for Mikel Arteta's Arsenal

Arsenal's head coach Mikel Arteta watches the match between Bournemouth and Arsenal at the Vitality Stadium on Jan 27, 2020. PHOTO: AFP

LONDON - If you can't beat them, hire them. Perhaps Arsenal provided a twist on a familiar phrase. They were predictably and emphatically dismantled by Manchester City in December. In the week after that 3-0 setback, they confirmed Mikel Arteta as their new manager.

So Pep Guardiola's old assistant faces his mentor in a delayed reunion that is a barometer of progress. Arsenal boast the Premier League's only unbeaten record in 2020, though reaching June undefeated would have been more impressive without a three-month hiatus.

Arteta's start has offered encouragement but Arsenal's next 10 games, plus their FA Cup run, could shape their future for years to come.

His impact can be measured in several respects. Arsenal are more resilient, unbeaten in nine after five defeats in the previous 12. They have twice managed to take a point with 10 men, coming from behind against Chelsea.

Arsenal have been far better defensively, conceding 1.5 goals per league game before his appointment and just 0.9 since. He has conjured more from some of Arsenal's most-criticised players, building around David Luiz at the back, rehabilitating Granit Xhaka in midfield and restoring Mesut Ozil to the No. 10 role.

He has also trusted Arsenal's next generation. Eddie Nketiah has been preferred to Alexandre Lacazette at times. Bukayo Saka has been a revelation as an attacking full-back and it will be instructive to see if a converted winger retains his spot now the specialist left-backs Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac are fit.

When Saka has overlapped and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has come infield, it has given Arsenal a front five when attacking, a tactic Arteta has borrowed from Guardiola, who has used that with both Bayern Munich and City.

And yet Arsenal's precariousness position threatens to undo progress. They are still on course for their lowest finish since 1995 and risk a first season with no European football in a quarter of a century.

No English elite club is more dependent on gate receipts and thus damaged more by a world without crowds. Arsenal's players have taken 12.5 percent pay cuts, but a £230 million (S$404 million) wage bill was bloated.

There is a need for reinforcements - the on-loan Pablo Mari could be bought - but a lack of funds. Cost-cutting is required. They could finish this season without David Luiz and face a summer decision about Aubameyang, whose deal is up in 2021 and who will attract interest.

Yet, and although their next generation brim with promise, stripping Arsenal of senior players could condemn them to a period of transition.

Paradoxically, the youngest manager in the Premier League is both a long-term appointment and in a race against time. Pivotal decisions must be compressed into weeks and depend, in part, on what Arteta can salvage from this season to position them for next.

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