Out of favour Arsenal fullback Cedric Soares has given an insight into how Mikel Arteta is running his dressing room as he intends to usurp Manchester City this season.
Arteta cut his teeth under Pep Guardiola for three years at Manchester City before taking up the Arsenal managerial role in 2019. The job looked too big for him initially because it was his first foray into top level management, but he has managed to win the trust of the board and the fans.
His much touted “process” is now yielding results, with Arsenal sitting comfortably at the top of the table, five points clear of Arteta’s former boss Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City side who are in second place.
Meanwhile, the Gunners continue to go from strength to strength and are also plotting a raid of several clubs in the January transfer window as they look to strengthen their squad ahead of a challenging run of fixtures.
Amidst the Gunners’ plans to sign a few players, former Southampton man Cedric Soares looks set to be on his way out of the club. However, he has nothing but good things to say about the way Arteta has handled Arsenal so far which has helped them keep City at bay.
Speaking just before City closed the gap to five points with their emphatic 3 – 1 win away at Leeds United, Soares said: “Mikel is working every aspect of our game; he pays attention to every detail.
“He is very focused on strategy. Of course it always depends on the opponent, but it’s already very automatic, it’s natural, because he created these habits.
“I think if you get to a motivation level where you start to win two, three, four, five games, you get this winning feeling. This winning mentality that no matter what, you are going to end up winning the game.”
Soares also commented on his Portuguese compatriot Fabio Vieira and how he is adapting to life at Arsenal.
The former FC Porto midfielder came in as competition for Martin Ødegaard and has put in some string performances. However, they have not been enough to successfully topple Arsenal’s captain from his starting berth. He remains one of Arteta’s favourites though, as he is always certain of getting a good run of minutes.
Speaking about how Vieira has adapted to the team, Soares said: “Sometimes, you will see a fantastic Fabio and then, at some other moments, you will see that he wasn’t ready for a specific move.
“It’s an adaptation for him. Everything is different, it’s a different league. He has a lot of potential, a lot of quality and I try to help him through my experience as well.”
