Arsenal's Joe Willock Says Squad 'All Believe In' New Manager Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta has "installed energy" at Arsenal since being appointed manager, and the Gunners squad "all believe in" the Spaniard, according to midfielder Joe Willock. 

Former club captain Arteta succeeded Unai Emery as Arsenal's permanent boss just before Christmas after Freddie Ljungberg spent six games as interim manager.

Arteta's first match on Boxing Day ended in a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.

Then on Sunday, his side threw away a 1-0 lead and squandered a good 80 minutes of play when they conceded twice to Chelsea in the last 10 minutes at the Emirates Stadium:

There were positives to take from the London derby, though, and Willock, who has appeared from the bench in both of Arteta's games in charge, talked up the impact the new manager has had, per Sam France of Goal:

"He's installed energy, he's installed being there for each other and different tactics. I thought we did it in the first half and the first 15 minutes of the second half, but we pushed back and they got on top of us so it’s really disappointing.

"We all believe in him; we all listen and we all try to put the tactics he does in training on to the pitch. It's evident we tried to do it in the first half, but it's a long journey, we've only had a week with him and we're all looking forward to working with him."

Arteta's next test is a home fixture against Manchester United on New Year's Day.

In his capacity as one of Pep Guardiola's deputies at Manchester City, the 37-year-old watched from the sidelines as United beat the Sky Blues 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium earlier this month.

City were unable to deal with the Red Devils' counter-attacking in the first half on that occasion, and if Arteta cannot work out how to keep the likes of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Daniel James quiet, Arsenal could fall to another defeat.

Tammy Abraham's winner for Chelsea on Sunday came from a counter-attack that Arsenal failed to deal with after Bernd Leno's error had gifted Jorginho the equaliser:

Arteta cannot legislate for individual errors that may occur against United, but he can drill his players to be better prepared to counteract one of the quickest attacks in the league.