When Mikel Arteta walked into the Football Analysis room at Arsenal's London Colney training base on his first day as head coach, he delivered a message to the staff waiting in anticipation: "You're going to have a lot of work to do -- you know that, right?" A smile spread across his face as he embraced those around him, but the sentiment was serious.
Arteta's meticulous attention to detail first emerged when he was a player, frequently spending time after training watching videos of forthcoming opponents without prompting. It also characterised his time as a coach at Manchester City, working alongside Pep Guardiola, and helped convince the Gunners last December to overlook his lack of managerial experience to hand him the tough task of reviving a squad that had become fractured and uninspired under Unai Emery.