Bukayo Saka has revealed that newly appointed Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta has been teaching the players his own philosophy of playing football.

The former Arsenal captain took over the reins as coach of the Emirates Stadium outfit on December 20, replacing fellow Spaniard Unai Emery who was dismissed following a poor run of results.

Saka has been forced to play in a new left-back role for the Gunners in their last three Premier League appearances following the injury-enforced absence of first teamers Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolašinac.

In an interview with arsenal.com, Saka explained : "He has a clear strategy of how he wants us to play and we're just really excited to work with him.
 
"He's teaching us little things that we didn't know before and just bringing in his own strategies, his own ways of playing. We can see that it's going to work, we're just looking forward to doing it.

"Maybe one thing that I've picked up straight away is that when nobody's pressing you, you don't need to pass the ball. What you can do is just get the ball, drive the ball forward a bit and wait for someone to come to you, commit a player, then pass it.
 
"Then that man will be free or that man will have less pressure on him. It's just attracting players before you pass the ball off, which will help our team-mates a lot on the pitch."

Arsenal's next match, their first in 2020, comes up against Manchester United on New Year's Day, and it remains to be seen if Saka will be available for selection after playing through the pain barrier against Chelsea on Sunday.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : arsenal.com