After 12 days, Arteta looks Arsenal saviour

They should have played a rousing version of ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ as Arsenal beat Manchester United at the Emirates because that’s all it has taken for new manager Mikel Arteta to get supporters in north London eating out of his hands.

Arteta, only appointed on December 20, may be a managerial rookie but the way his side performed in a morale-boosting victory suggests he is one to watch, and there are even people asking whether the Gunners have found their own Special One.

Having cut his teeth as Pep Guardiola’s assistant there was always hope that the Spaniard would prove to be a natural in the dugout, but this performance so soon after arriving at a club whichhas been in the doldrumsfor so long was aneye-opener.

Remember, this is an Arsenal side which hasn’t been able to defend for as long as anyone can remember — and which hasn’t even looked like a team for most of that time period; and yet it was suddenly transformed here, showing an energy and vibrancy which has been sorely missing.

Arteta’s men pressed and chased as if their lives depended on it, maintained a strong shape, worked tirelessly -and when they attacked they did so with pace, gusto and imagination.

Then, when United pushed in the second half, they held out — as they were unable to do against Chelsea — to take the points despite having little of the play.

You have to ask how, in only 12 days and at a time of the season when everyone else is complaining of fatigue, Arteta has been able to tease that amount of energy out of his previously tepid squad.

There were still mistakes, that’s inevitable, but the drive and spirit shown on the pitch was replicated in the stands as the Emirates enjoyed one of its most enjoyable nights, with the kind of frantic, loud and passionate atmosphere that has rarely been seen here.

It seemed liked The Library was hosting a music festival — and revelling in every second of it.

The synergy between team and crowd, especially in the first half, was palpable, which is a huge achievement for Arteta given what has gone before — and especially because he continues to field the previously-devisive Mesut Ozil, Granit Zhaka and David Luiz.

Let’s not get carried away. Manchester United fans were feeling pretty much the same way about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer right at the start of his reign, only for it all to fall apart in frightening style at the end of last season and stutter again this. But there are signs that Arteta is the real deal.

The shape of his team, with full-backs Maitland-Niles and Kolasinac influential, looks solid and he has even found a way to accommodate both Aubameyang and Lacazette in harmony up front and get the much-criticised Ozil making tackles.

Arsenal enjoyed 55% of possession in the first half as they took the game to a United side which had lost just once of its previous nine games and taken 14 points from a highly productive December.

So, although this is not the United of old, Solskjaer’s side have proved themselves no pushovers and this is an important result.

By contrast, United produced one of those limp performances which seems to always pop up just when the team is starting to make forward strides – and once again laid bare some alarming frailties in defence.

The truth is that Arsenal have been so bad in recent times that United’s defensive issues have almost been under-played in comparison; but that cannot continue.

Arsenal’s opener came when Harry Maguire, who cost €85m from Leicester, dropped too deep and played Kolasinac onside, allowing the wing-back to set up Pepe.

But he wasn’t alone in making poor decisions because both Lacazette and Sokratis were poorly marked for the corner routine which led to the home team’s secondgoal.

When you consider United’s back four cost a total of more than €200m between them then you have to question what is wrong — and why they have kept only three clean sheets in the Premier League all season (a statistic which places them in the bottom three of the clean sheet table, with only Tottenham and Norwich below them).

There was some consolation for United in their second-half performance, in which they had far more of the ball and created half-chances.

But most of the time the eyes of the media were firmly on the animated Arteta as he urged his team on and did everything to transmit energy to those on the pitch.

Just 12 days in he looks like being the best Christmas present Arsenal could have wished for.