Martin Keown has opined that there are positive and negative effects that this Covid-19-enforced break has had on Mikel Arteta.
Arteta became Arsenal’s manager at the end of last year and he has overseen some of their best performances of the season.
The Spaniard has had to overcome a string of injuries, suspensions, limited winter transfer budget, a disharmonious squad and disgruntled fan base.
Despite the limitations, he has still managed the Gunners to lose just one league game in more than three months he has been in charge.
Although Arsenal have been eliminated from the Europa League, they remain in the FA Cup and Arsenal fans have more hopes of ending this season well than they had when the club was under Unai Emery.
The Covid-19 virus has forced everyone to remain at home and that has affected the Arsenal manager in a negative and positive way, according to Keown.
“He’s somebody early in this business of management, he will want to improve his communication and it’s giving him a little bit of time perhaps to communicate with his players, work things through,” Keown said on BT Sport.
“But he can’t yet get to the training ground which is the most difficult thing at the moment, with all his players having to respect the lockdown like everybody else.
“It’s difficult for him but maybe it gives him a little bit of time to sort of set his stall out, make plans for the future and be ready to go when it finally starts again.”
