The damning Mikel Arteta stat that could kill Arsenal’s title hopes if repeated again

Nestor Watach • 22 Sep 2025

Mikel Arteta’s team selection for the 1-1 draw with Manchester City has come under fire for being overly cautious, with particular criticism for the midfield pairing of Declan Rice and Mikel Merino.

And Arteta’s critics might have a point when you look at the games in which Rice and Merino have started together in midfield.

The Gunners have won just one of the 10 Premier League games in which Arteta has selected the two midfielders alongside one another.

“I think Arsenal are a brilliant team, for me the best squad in the Premier League, and I thought they would not win comfortably, but would win 2-0 against Man City today,” Jamie Carragher said in his post-match analysis on Sky Sports.

“Arteta has got a team and a squad that are that close to being really, really special in terms of winning a Premier League and maybe even winning a Champions League, I think they are that good.

“But time after time, when it comes to these big games he picks a team that feels like he is thinking more about the opposition and that does not mean you cannot win the Premier League, Jose Mourinho won it three times and he was a little bit like that.

“It is just a recurring pattern season after season and if you are Arteta and an Arsenal supporter, you just have to hope that does not cost you at the end of the season as they are a brilliant team with a fantastic squad, but the margins are so small.”

Gary Neville struck the same chord in the post-match debrief.

“My narrative with Arsenal was thinking is he going to take the risk?” the former Manchester United right-back asked.

“Is he going to send his players the message that I am going for it, that I believe in you? And the teamsheet comes through and I see that Leandro Trossard, who’s a very good player, and Mikel Merino are on it.

“I thought the same at Anfield and I can’t help thinking, and I’ve said this probably now for a couple of weeks: I’m not going to look at what a manager says, I’m going to look at what he does. His actions and his actions at half-time were of a manager who I think got it wrong because if you’re making two substitutions at half-time, it’s not gone to plan.

“You know that the players that you started with are not going to be able to win you the game in all circumstances, which is when they go a goal down. So, you’ve given away 45 minutes in a big match.

“You must be looking back at this game and reviewing it and think: should I have started with Eze from the off?”

With Rice and Merino together in midfield against Manchester City, Arsenal created little and were behind thanks to a clinically executed counter-attack executed by Erling Haaland.

The Gunners improved in the second half after Arteta’s half-time changes, with Eberechi Eze replacing Merino and Bukayo Saka coming on for Noni Madueke.

It was ultimately a brilliant executed ball over the top from Eze that eventually breached City’s defence, with fellow substitute Gabriel Martinelli scoring a well-taken equaliser in injury time.

But it begged the question – should Arteta have started Eze? Arsenal’s midfield lacked a traditional creative playmaker in the absence of club captain Martin Odegaard.

The midfield that Arteta picked was strong and physically imposing, reminiscent of Real Madrid’s Pepe-Xabi Alonso-Sami Khedira ‘trivote’ that Jose Mourinho used to favour in classic battles with Pep Guardiola’s prime Barcelona.

In both examples, the choice set out a message of being more preoccupied with stifling the opposition than setting up to dictate the game on their own terms.

To paraphrase Mark Corrigan; three nominally defensive midfielders, Mikel? Three? That’s insane.

“I thought it was the best one to start the game,” Arteta defended his selection, telling reporters in the post-match press conference.

“Nobody asked me about the midfield three in Bilbao, nobody, it’s the same midfield. I believed it was the best thing for the team.”

It’s true that midfield trio won in midweek, all of them completing 90 minutes, but it was a similarly stodgy display improved with second-half substitutes.

Rice and Merino also started together in two Champions League outings last season – a routine 3-0 Champions League win over Monaco and the narrow 1-0 defeat at home to PSG in the first leg of the semi-final.

Arteta’s teamsheet did at least have a nominally creative playmaker in Odegaard that night, but the eventual European champions shut them out successfully after Ousmane Dembele’s early opener.

But if you take a look at the Premier League results alone, they’re damning.

These are the 10 Premier League games that Rice and Merino have started together:

Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal
Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal 0-0 Everton
Brighton 1-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa
Ipswich 0-4 Arsenal
Everton 1-1 Arsenal
Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City

That’s one win, six draws, three defeats and just 11 goals scored.

The one win and four of the goals scored was against effectively-already-relegated Ipswich Town.

It works out as an average of just 0.9 points per game. Needless to say, miles off the levels required for a team with title ambitions.

With Rice and Merino starting together, they failed to score against Bournemouth, Newcastle, Everton and Liverpool and didn’t do enough with further dropped points against Brighton, Everton and Man City.

It’s a relatively small sample size, admittedly, and could potentially come good.

But the narrative of ‘Arteta’s handbrake’ will no doubt come up the next time that he chooses both players.

The early evidence suggests that Rice and Merino ought to be competing for one spot on the teamsheet, as opposed to ever starting together.

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every Spanish player to appear for Arsenal in the Premier League?

Arsenal