The big calls Mikel Arteta made in the nine days that could come to define Arsenal's season

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Two losses in last month’s three league matches gave the impression of momentum slipping, and even if performances improved towards the end of April, something different was needed to shift the energy towards the club. Their first match of May, at home to Fulham, is where the shift came and kick-started a nine-day period in which they reached the Champions League final and now look like favourites to take the Premier League title. Playing Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield and Riccardo Calafiori at left-back unlocked a freedom and balance that saw Arteta name an unchanged team across all competitions for just the second and third times all season against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final second leg and then West Ham on Sunday. Asked about the decision post-Atletico, the Spaniard said light-heartedly: “If you see my iPad, the amount of line-ups I’ve done and changed and turned it again, and ‘What about this?’, and the possible subs and ‘If they do that, we do this’. In the end, it was my gut feeling. I had such a good feeling from what I saw a few days ago against Fulham.” His team may have played with more vim and vigour in that 3-0 win but it would not have solely been what was happening on the pitch that fuelled Arteta’s feelings that day. For the first time in a while, the Emirates Stadium crowd seemed to be fully enjoying the football they were seeing rather than being prisoners to the tension that comes from expectation. So when half-time came with their team three goals up, the roar from the stands was so visceral that the energy shift could have been sensed by somebody in a coma. The noise was so loud that it made the referee’s whistle hard to hear, and felt comparable to the explosion of noise from the away end at Brighton on March 4, when news of Manchester City’s 2-2 home draw with Nottingham Forest that same night filtered through. Biggest cheer from the away end tonight came when they found out it was full time at Manchester City That was a minute or so after full time at the AMEX, and they’re still in full voice now pic.twitter.com/j7bSZ11u74 — Art de Roché (@ArtdeRoche) March 4, 2026 The Arsenal fans’ reaction at the Amex Stadium is how Arteta, his players and those in the press box found out the City result. Against Fulham, the feedback from the home crowd was all the Arsenal manager needed to know his gut feeling was the right one. Lewis-Skelly and Calafiori continued to provide balance against Atletico three days later, and were also key components to Arsenal’s strong start against West Ham, alongside Leandro Trossard. Everything positive about Arsenal’s play early on at the London Stadium came through this trio. Lewis-Skelly’s ability to receive the ball on the turn and play forward, Calafiori’s buccaneering forward runs and Trossard’s comfort with dropping deep to supply the left-back brought a fluidity to the left flank that had only been consistently seen in the autumn — when Calafiori and Trossard started eight consecutive matches together. But with Ben White down injured after 26 minutes and forced off, Arsenal’s season depended on Arteta and his gut feelings again. In timely fashion, when asked about decision-making in title run-ins ahead of the West Ham match, he told reporters: “There is something that is related to your intuition. What the game is going to require, the state of the players, the way you can imagine the game and where the players can have the most impact. “You can get it right or wrong, you never know. But if you do what you feel, at least you have the certainty that you’ve done the preparation, you’ve done the thinking, and when it comes time to deliver, that’s something else.” Arteta did not have his iPad to hand at the London Stadium, but when the broadcast cameras zoomed in on his face, you could see the weight of the decision as he was deliberating with his assistants. He later explained that he felt bringing on Cristhian Mosquera for White “was going to lock something”, so that is why he moved Declan Rice from midfield to right-back, but that seemed to be Arteta second-guessing what had got Arsenal to such a promising position: consistency. Rice impressed at right-back in the home game against Brighton in December, but it was clear within minutes on Sunday that Arteta got this call wrong. The domino effect of playing Rice out of position and bringing on Martin Zubimendi left Arsenal’s right side vulnerable and impacted their attacking balance. Even if Calafiori was not injured, Mosquera’s introduction and Rice’s return to midfield were necessary to start the second half. The further tweak, the one that would win the game for Arsenal, came 22 minutes later, and once again it was down to a feeling. “Sometimes you have to make another change,” Arteta added. “The one on Zubi was tough, but I really felt that we had to put two attacking midfielders (Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz) in that moment to generate issues, and thank God it worked out.” It took time for Arteta to get to the right formula, but he deserves credit for recognising his errors as quickly as he did and rectifying them. In his first title race against Manchester City, there was a reluctance from the Arsenal boss to make changes at key moments that sapped momentum away from his side. He had shown, two months ago, that he is capable of making tough decisions to benefit the team by replacing a sub-par Bukayo Saka with Noni Madueke, who won a crucial penalty away to Bayer Leverkusen in March’s first leg of a Champions League last-16 tie. Maybe getting that call right made him more confident to make these decisions in the heat of a run-in, but it also helps when those coming off the bench are of the quality of Odegaard and Havertz. Much has been made of Odegaard’s assist against West Ham in isolation, but in some respects, it was a moment that was indicative of his season. On at 67 minutes, and with the match reaching 102, the Norwegian played 35 per cent of the game. In the Premier League this season, he has played just 39 per cent of the minutes available but has been a key creator in his time on the pitch. That assist was his sixth in the league this season, which is the joint-highest tally at Arsenal alongside Trossard. At Arsenal, on a per 90-minutes basis, he ranks second for chances created, including assists (2.67), chances created from open play (2.39), expected assists (0.25) and third for passes into the final third (7.8). This assist also joins his ones for Gabriel away to Newcastle United and Rice at Bournemouth as match-winners. With two league matches and a Champions League final left in their season, the job is not finished, but Arteta acting on feeling more than he has ever done since being appointed in December 2019 brought Arsenal’s season back to life when all seemed lost. It started by playing Odegaard and Eberechi Eze together in defeat against City at the Etihad Stadium last month, but leaning into that intuition and letting loose during the past 10 days could be a defining moment for him as Arsenal manager. Thankfully for him, his players and Arsenal fans, his gut has set him right more often than not this month, and he has recognised when a wrong turn was taken so he could steer his team back on course and a step closer to history. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms