Arteta’s response to that setback comes straight from Wenger’s play-book; a frank admission of culpability on that occasion followed by a resolute refusal to compromise his underlying principles. Having left his fiercely proud home in the Basque country to pursue a professional career at Barcelona as a teenager, Arteta has found a new sense of belonging late in his career at Arsenal.
“I’ve played in lots of different teams throughout my career, and if you love football you want to play the Arsenal way,” he says. “When I joined Everton and we had big Duncan Ferguson, Alan Stubbs and David Weir, the football was very direct because of the players we had. It worked, but if you ask me what I prefer I have no doubt.
“We don’t have to change. The manager believes in this style 100 per cent, but we have to find our defensive solidity as well. When you come out with the ball and give it away, you’re going to get exposed, which was the problem in Dortmund. It doesn’t matter if you play with one or two holding players.”
Arteta has gone back to his roots in the past couple of years at Arsenal, returning to the defensive role he first played at Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain before developing into a playmaker and winger at Everton. His importance has been magnified by Wenger’s failure to sign a holding player during the summer, and although Arteta accepts that Arsenal’s squad is stretched before this evening’s north London derby, he understands the manager’s thinking.
“People say we have £100 million to spend, but you have to be very careful,” Arteta says. “You can’t have 26 players in the squad. We have a big squad. Every game we have three or four players left out of the squad, and big names, you know. The manager believes we have enough.
“In my career I’ve always played in different roles. In Barcelona and Paris I was in front of the back four. At Rangers I was further up the pitch. At Everton I played on the right and left wing. It always depends on the manager’s beliefs and what he wants from the team.”
Arteta’s belief in Wenger is unwavering, and he is convinced that Arsenal can kick on from last season’s FA Cup success. The player believes that Wenger may have left had Arsenal been beaten by Hull City at Wembley in May, citing that comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and the record signing of Mesut Özil eight months earlier as huge turning points in the history of the club.
“In the final we never knew what was going to happen afterwards,” he says. “It was in our heads. What’s going to happen here? If we lost the Hull game we would be talking about a different story. It would have started a period of reflection, and maybe it would have been different for everybody if we had lost. Signing Özil was the turning point. When you have a player like him — his price, his personality — people will either love him or not like him at all. When you’re an artist you’re never going to perform every week, eight or nine out of ten.
“I have to mention our British players as well, particularly Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain, who for me is one of my little joys. I want him to do well because the potential he has is second to none. This player if he really wants to, if he really focuses, he can go to the top, top, top.”
Having played alongside some of the biggest stars of the modern era such as Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, Arteta is well placed to judge, but his greatest influence was a far less heralded player, with whom he will be reunited this evening.
Mauricio Pochettino was a long-haired centre back when Arteta arrived in Paris as an 18-year-old loan signing, but the Tottenham head coach’s leadership skills were already evident back then in his role as PSG captain.
“He’s been one of my biggest influences in showing how a football player has to behave,” Arteta says. “He was like a father figure to me and looked after me as a young player. I had big players like [Nicolas] Anelka and Ronaldinho around me, and it helped that the captain was so supportive.”
When Arteta finally calls time on his own playing career — he is seeking an extension to a contract that expires next summer — it would be no surprise to see him joining Wenger and Pochettino in the dugout.