Mikael Arteta played at the top flight in Football for many years. He played in the most elite and difficult premier league for much of his career – making appearances in both Everton as well as the side that he would later go on to manage, Arsenal Football Club. He was a player known for his supreme aptitude for captaincy, a leader that understood his players, and knew how to subdue their weaknesses and bring out their strengths.

Almost a decade later Arteta has found himself holding the role of manager at his previous club. His managerial aptitude has resulted in Arsenal being ranked at the very top of the English Premier league table for the first ten games of the season, winning eight of their first ten bouts. Arteta brought on a whole host of new signings and restructured the team in order to maximize the team’s overall performance.

Getty Images/ Arsenal FC/ Stuart MacFarlane

Arteta signed Manchester City’s star striker Gabriel Jesus, who has performed very well for the first ten games of the season. Apart from his goal scoring capabilities, Jesus offers a playing style conducive to what Arteta is aiming to achieve – an Arsenal that can keep productive possession. In the past, Arsenal was known for being a team that could hold the ball, but they would do nothing with it except lose the ball and end up conceding a goal.

Apart from Jesus, another key signing was the team’s current captain, Martin Odegaard. Odegaard is a captain that has, so far, encouraged the team to play as one cohesive unit, as opposed to playing as a group of individuals – as it was before. Through his strategic captaincy, they are able to play the ball in ways that get it through the smallest of gaps and into the net.

Despite the team’s rather tumultuous past, the future’s looking bright for Arsenal Football Club.