Roy Keane has been proven right over his claim that Mikel Arteta needed more time at Arsenal to build his project after the north London outfit's defeat to Chelsea last season. It comes as the Gunners are gearing up to face the Blues at the Emirates Stadium once again.
Both sides are in different places to then though, with Arsenal making a challenge for the Premier League title, while their rivals sit in 12th after a tumultuous year. Despite the difficulties the Blues face, Arteta still believes there's quality in the team they face and is wary of the many threats they pose.
"They’re going to try and come to the Emirates to beat us," the Spaniard told the press before the game. "They have a great manager, exceptional players, very difficult to predict what they’re going to do because they can play in various ways with different players and different qualities and we are going to prepare the game to win it."
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As mentioned, the teams last season were in a very different place as Arsenal were pushing for a top-four finish, while Chelsea were on the periphery of a title challenge. The Blues perhaps put in one of their best performances of the campaign at the Emirates, winning 2-0 courtesy of Romelu Lukaku and Reece James strikes.
At the time though, Keane called for some patience over Arteta, saying on Sky Sports: "Arteta's had 20 months. I'd give him a bit longer, you have to give the manager longer. We see Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] having two or three years before he made progress, Jurgen Klopp too, but it takes a little bit of time. Arsenal have a lot of very good potential young players, but it's just potential.
"It won't happen overnight, but the fans want to see signs of progress. Sometimes the fans want to hear 'we've got a project and we'll be good in two years' time' or whatever, and if that is what the club are doing buying young players, then you have to give them a chance.
"That's when you need your senior players to help these young kids along, and I don't think Arsenal have the top-quality senior players with good habits to help the young lads. I thought the fans stuck with them today and the Arsenal players tried, but they lacked leadership.
"There's a softness to them and that's not a quick fix. It'll be there next week and your good young players might get you out of jail one time, but in the long term, there's a long way back for Arsenal."
It has proven that the patience has worked and the addition of leaders in the summer transfer window has been crucial to that progress. It remains to be seen whether they can take the next step to winning a trophy though, with all eyes on the Premier League title.
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