Arsenal legend Lee Dixon believes that Mikel Arteta has "galvanised" the relationship between Gunners fans and players as the North London giants continue their quest for Premier League glory.
Few fancied Arsenal to challenge for the top-flight title during the 2022-23 season, but Arteta's young squad have blown the competition out of the water so far.
The Gunners have taken 69 points from their 28 fixtures this term to sit at the top of the pile, eight points clear of Manchester City - who have a game in hand - thanks to their 4-1 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Arteta faced calls to leave during Arsenal's difficult period in 2020, but the Gunners board have now seen their faith in the 40-year-old rewarded, and Dixon has hailed Arteta for bridging the gap between the players and fans.
"What he's done and how he's galvanized the gap between the fans and the players has been brilliant, because there was a discord there and he's bridged that," Dixon told Sports Mole.
"Everyone at the Emirates now is enjoying watching the game and getting behind the team every week. For a while that wasn't the case.
"They've shown enough so far for us all to be pretty hopeful, but we've still got a third of the games to go so still a lot of points, and also needing to go away at Newcastle, Liverpool and Man City are going to be the big tests. But we've bounced back from defeats against City with five wins on the trot so I'm very hopeful."
Dixon is no stranger to silverware with Arsenal, having been a part of four title-winning squads at Highbury, and he sits fourth in their all-time appearance list with 619 games in red and white.
Starring at right-back for the Gunners 30 years ago, that side of the field at the Emirates is now occupied by Ben White, who has enjoyed a seamless transition from centre-back this season.
The 25-year-old has scored one goal and provided three assists in 28 Premier League appearances this season, setting up Bukayo Saka's first goal in Sunday's triumph over Palace.
Dixon believes that White's Championship-winning spell on loan at Leeds United was a masterstroke, while his "consistency" and ability to "read the game" have also impressed the 58-year-old throughout the season.
"You look at his consistency, we saw when he was at Leeds on loan how good a defender he was, he enjoyed that season and got promoted with them and really came of age then," Dixon said on White.
"The fact that he's just moved over to that right side proved that he can do that week in week out, it shows how good he reads the game and it looks like he's enjoying playing there.
"When he first got in that position he was perhaps not enjoying it as much because he was still trying to learn what he was doing, he's played there before but to play there every week is a different thing.
"You've got to form partnerships with different types of players. His partnership with the midfield, Saka on the right side, whoever he plays with is really important. You don't really have to do that as a centre-back, you've just got two people either side of you, but that one in front of you is really important."
Despite playing a major part in Arsenal's Premier League title charge, White was left out of the England squad for their upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers with Italy and Ukraine, having previously withdrawn from the 2022 World Cup for personal reasons. body check tags ::
