Mikel Arteta prefers not to leave things to chance. The Arsenal manager is a believer in data, percentages and minimising footballing risk. He hopes to win the Premier League not by gambling, but by going through the right processes, again and again, in the most consistent and sustainable way possible.
In other words, Arteta has no intention of sitting back and hoping that Arsenal get lucky this year. He has had enough of that, after a season in which he and his coaches effectively crossed their fingers and prayed to the heavens that their key defenders would not get injured.
As they chased the Premier League title last season, Arsenal knew their hopes of overcoming Manchester City would be drastically reduced by the absence of any one of William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White. The squad, as it was then, could barely have handled an injury to one of those players, let alone two or three of them.
“We were really short in the backline last year in terms of numbers,” Arteta said this summer. “We demanded so much from them. We only had six defenders in the backline and at this level you have to be really lucky to sustain the season like this. We were.”
The perfect illustration of his point is that Saliba played every minute of Arsenal’s Premier League campaign. Gabriel started 34 of 38 league matches, while White started 35. Those three stalwarts bore the heaviest of physical loads, and they cannot be asked to do so again.
“William and Gabriel played nearly every minute,” said Arteta. “Are we able to do that consistently over the next three or four years? That is a big question mark. Obviously you cannot just bet on that. That is a big bet, and we don’t want to take that bet.”
All of which effectively answers the question that many Arsenal supporters have been asking this summer: why was the club’s top priority in the transfer market to sign yet another defender? Riccardo Calafiori, the Italy international, joined in July for a deal that could ultimately be worth £42 million.
Riccardo Calafiori looks on during Arsenal’s pre-season friendly against Lyon
New addition Riccardo Calafiori can play as centre-back or full-back, which offers Mikel Arteta another defensive option
With Calafiori on board, and with Jurrien Timber back in action after missing almost the entire season through injury last year, Arsenal suddenly have genuine depth in their backline. Their defence was the best in the league last season – with just 29 goals conceded – and it is now more formidable.
Much is made of Arsenal’s attacking quality and their thrilling passing football, but it is this backline that will determine whether they can finally lift the Premier League trophy next May. Any team looking to overcome Arsenal will have to get past their collection of defensive giants, who have been assembled in north London at a cost of more than £250 million.
Arsenal’s defensive wall is now stronger than at any point since they last won the title, in 2004. For the first time in Arteta’s tenure, the Spaniard has at least two high-class defensive options in each position of the back four. There is strength, versatility and technical quality. White, Calafiori, Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu can play as centre-backs or full-backs, while Oleksandr Zinchenko offers outstanding passing from left-back.
The expectation now is that, in contrast to last season, Arteta will spread the minutes between these defensive players – just as City’s Pep Guardiola did with his defenders last season. Saliba, Gabriel and White played at least 200 more league minutes than any City player in the 2023-24 campaign.
This complete defensive rebuild has not been easy for Arsenal, and it has certainly not been cheap. Since Arteta’s appointment in December 2019, the club have signed 11 different defenders of varying quality. Also in that time, they have either sold, loaned or terminated the contracts of 13 different defenders. Window after window, deal after deal, the backline has been carefully remoulded by Arteta and sporting director Edu.
It says plenty about the former state of Arteta’s defence that, under the Spaniard’s management, Arsenal have spent twice as much on defenders as they have on forwards. Arteta’s first lineup featured a back four of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and a fresh-faced, out-of-position Bukayo Saka. Shkodran Mustafi was on the bench.
Clearly, times have changed. Zinchenko aside, Arsenal have targeted physically imposing defenders who can also play passing football. A back four of White, Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori would have an average height of 6ft 3in. They can all run at pace and they can all receive the ball under pressure. If Arteta wants to play a more silky game, Zinchenko and Timber can split the opposition with their passing range.
Arsenal are coming into the new campaign with more options, more power and more adaptability in their defence. The foundations are in place for another assault on the Premier League title, and those foundations look sturdier than ever.
