Mikel Arteta has revealed David Moyes taught him to adapt in English football by deploying the Spaniard as a winger.
The Arsenal boss spent six seasons at Everton after Scot brought him to the Premier League before joining the Gunners as a player. Arteta sought Moyes’ advice before taking the Gunners job three years ago - and are now regular top-flight rivals.
But before West Ham's Boxing Day visit to the Emirates, the Gunners boss said: “David had a huge impact on me. The biggest? I played as a winger! And I wasn’t the fastest. He believed I could have an impact on the team.
"I had real doubts and he made me believe that I could do it. I was always played as a holding midfielder or an attacking midfielder, and he made me play as a winger.
"I had to adapt. I had to adapt to a different style. With David, the first few years we played a very direct game, it was completely opposite to what I was told since I was 15 years old.
“I had to adapt or die, basically. It was very challenging but I think it was, for my own education and own development as a player, I think it was really rich.”
West Ham sit in 16th place after losing their last three games before the World Cup break.
But Arteta added: “They will be very dangerous because I know for sure he has been working the team really, really hard. Since he took over he absolutely maximised the potential of that team and took the team to a different level.
"I am sure they have been working really hard, like we have all been, in this period and I am sure it will be a very difficult contest.”
Arteta has also warned Arsenal’s bosses that his current squad means they are not in a position to coast through the January window, despite sitting top of the table.
The Gunners lead Manchester City by five points at the mid-season break, but Arteta is adamant that they will do their utmost to continue improving the options at his disposal.
“We will be in the market always active and we will assess the biggest opportunities that we have,” the Spaniard said this week. “We are going to be active and being active means we are always going to be looking to strengthen the team.
“This squad doesn’t have the luxury of not maximising every single window and we have to do that because it’s really important.
"But then we want to get the right profile and the right player and a player that is going to impact the team and take us to the next level.”
