For the third time this season Mikel Arteta has been awarded the Premier League Manager of the Month award, following another fine run of results in January.
The boss has now received the trophy three times out of the four occasions it has been awarded, having also come out on top in August as well as November/December.
January saw us pick up seven points from nine during a tricky run of fixtures, which began with a goalless draw against Newcastle United before we triumphed at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by a 2-0 margin.
Then Eddie Nketiah’s last-gasp goal sealed a 3-2 win against Manchester United at the Emirates to restore our five-point cushion at the top of the table.
After picking up the trophy once again, the boss reflected on our recent form, saying: “After the World Cup break, you have certain questions – how is the team going to react, are we ready and have we lost that momentum?
“I don’t think we did, I think we used that time really well. We were lucky not to have some big problems in that period and the team responded by winning a lot of games.
“It’s difficult to choose the best moment because we had some big ones, but obviously the game that we won away at Spurs was a key one.”
Mikel has now won five Manager of the Month awards during his three years in charge, having previously been victorious in September 2021 and March 2022 before this campaign.
He has become the first Arsenal manager to win the award three times in a single season, which is the first time that has happened in the division since Jurgen Klopp won five in 2019/20.
