Daunting task at hand for Arteta as he looks to rebuild Arsenal

Following their 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on a boxing day fixture, Arsenal now sit at 12th position in the Premier League table, eight points short of fourth-placed Chelsea. Former Arsenal player Mikel Arteta, who has now returned to the club as head coach and faces a tough task of reshaping this Arsenal squad to take the Gunners to the level they were under past two decades of Arsene Wenger.

Although Unai Emery’s first season at Arsenal evidently did not go as planned, the management retained faith in the manger and gave him time to shape his squad in order to compete at the highest level. Arsenal signed Nicolas Pepe from Lille for a record fee, Dani Ceballos on loan from Real Madrid and David Luiz from Chelsea over the last summer.

Pushing down Mesut Ozil, one of the league highest earners, in the pecking order, Emery utilized the services of academy youngsters Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock, Gabriel Martinelli regularly over the game weeks. Despite the youngsters delivering the end product the manger was looking for in the early stages, their contributions were not enough to help Arsenal in climbing up the table.

Thereafter, following a bad run of form in the premier league and the league cup exit, Emery was sacked in late November. Interim manager Freddie Ljungberg couldn’t help his side much as he managed to guide the team to victory in just one out of the five games in charge.

Arteta, who was a key figure in Pep Guardiola’s back-to-back title winning Manchester City team, faces a very tough task in the world to rebuild this group at Emirates. Sky Sports has already reported that Granit Xhaka, who was engaged in a spat with Arsenal supporters back in October, has agreed personal terms with German side Hertha Berlin over a possible January move. Sky sports reports that Arsenal expects at least to recover the £35 million they paid to Borussia Monchengladbach for the Swiss player in 2019. The departure of experienced player halfway through the season could be a big blow for new coming Arsenal manager.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who won the premier league golden boot along with Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane last season, could leave Arsenal in search of Champions League football. With 19 more games to be played, Arsenal are eight points short of a champions league spot. Considering the present situation at Emirates, it could be almost an impossible task for Arteta’s side to finish at top four this season. Sky sport pundit Jamie Carragher believes Arsenal could sell the Gabonese forward if a lucrative offer comes their way.

French forward Alexandre Lacazette and ex-Germany play maker Mesut Ozil are also in the list of players tipped with Arsenal exit, which could make the task even tougher for Arteta.

Adrien Rabiot (left) started only seven games this season

Daily Mail reported last week that Arsenal could make a move for Juventus’ French midfielder Adrien Rabiot, who has started just five Serie A games this season, in January. Signing Rabiot could be an encouraging move for Arsenal as the midfielder can provide a lot of creativity for the Gunners. But the same Daily Mail has also reported recently that Juventus isn't interested in selling Rabiot in January.

The defeat against Manchester City and the draws against Everton and Bournemouth mean that Arteta has a huge task ahead of him. Out of six premier league games played this month, Arsenal have won just one. The defeat against Brighton and the draw against Norwich were tough to take. Arsenal are in the process of big transformation and we will have to see whether Arteta is the right man to bring about a change in Arsenal's fortunes.