DRAPER: Arsenal were superb last season so why is Arteta fiddling with his team?
Mikel Arteta seemed to have Arsenal sorted last season, albeit they fell short in their ultimate aim of winning the Premier League. But with Ben White bombing down the right, Aaron Ramsdale a huge personality in goal, Gabriel at centre half, Thomas Partey patrolling midfield and, usually, a recognised centre forward in Gabriel Jesus or Eddie Nketiah, they were a force to be reckoned with again.
Which is why, in what has been an unconvincing start to the season, fans and pundits have been somewhat bemused to see him tear up that formula and start again.
Partey now plays as a full back who comes into midfield. Gabriel cannot get a look in while White has moved to centre half. Against Fulham, Arteta had Leandro Trossard as a false No 9, one of those tricky, technical players, wafting into forward areas; and David Raya has been signed, you suspect to replace Ramsdale in the long term.
With Manchester United, their opponents on Sunday, also not exactly consolidating their credentials, Manchester City’s potential rivals already run the risk of looking like phantom title challengers.
Why mess with a winning team? The answer lies partly in the fallacy of that statement: Arsenal finished five points behind Manchester City and have to improve. Evolve or die is the mantra.
Yet it also lies in plethora of assistant coaches, boffins, tacticians, TV watchers and software experts employed by every Premier League club these days.
Every club has a war planning room with several staff, some with PhDs from MIT and Cambridge University, known as the analysis department, producing graphs and stats on all their opponents.
Arteta says the technology is moving so fast that it is not just a case that it is a gamechanger from 10 years ago. Even from
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