Gone are the days when Arsenal used to be run by one single figure. Arsene Wenger spent 22 years at the helm of the Gunners, embedding himself into every fibre of the club. He was the manager, chief scout and interior designer. When the training ground was being rebuilt, Wenger chose the cutlery and chairs.

The Frenchman spread himself too thin and eventually left the club after years of fan protests. Mikel Arteta is the first manager to lead Arsenal back into the Champions League since Wenger's legendary reign, regularly citing the integral work done by all the individuals behind the scenes.

Arsenal's players ultimately decide each game, but there are dozens of employees without the same fame or salary that play a key role. Here's a closer look at the club's coaching and backroom staff in an era of shared responsibility.

Mikel Arteta

Manager

Aaron Ramsey spent five years playing alongside Arteta at Arsenal, logging hours of game time receiving an unrelenting torrent of instructions from his Spanish teammate. "You could see he was always going to be a manager one day," the Welshman later revealed. "The way he thought and saw the game and how intense he was as well."

Arteta was initially approached by Pep Guardiola to become his assistant coach in 2012 but still had four years of football left to play. The former Real Sociedad and Everton midfielder eventually took up the offer to join Manchester City in 2016. "We see the football in really quite a close way," Guardiola said of his fellow Barcelona academy graduate.

After a failed application to replace Wenger in 2018, Arteta took the top job at his former club 18 months later once Unai Emery was sacked. Originally appointed as 'head coach', Arsenal made a point of promoting Arteta to 'manager' in September 2020 to signal his growing influence. On the back of successive title challenges, the club are expected to 'address' Arteta's contract situation before it expires in 2025.

Albert Stuivenberg

Assistant coach

Albert Stuivenberg developed a cult following among Arsenal's hardcore support for his persistent use of wireless headphones on the bench. 'AirPod Albert', as he was christened, has ditched the white earpieces since Steve Round left the club, assuming the role of Arteta's undisputed number two.

I want to play recognisable football. For me, that means that we play dominantly both defensively and offensively.

The tactically astute Dutch coach was Louis van Gaal's assistant at the Netherlands national team and Manchester United. "I was doing the training sessions for the selected first team before games," Stuivenberg said of his time at Old Trafford. "I was fully in charge." Belgian side Genk are the only club to have given Stuivenberg a full-time position as a senior head coach, sacking him after less than 12 months in 2017.

Carlos Cuesta

Assistant coach

Carlos Cuesta may be a couple of years short of his 30th birthday, but he has already amassed more than a decade of coaching experience among Europe's elite clubs. After forcing his way into Atletico Madrid's setup at 18, even if it meant just putting out the cones for each training session, Cuesta moved to Juventus before joining Arsenal in 2020.

An affable character who has worked in a wide range of roles for Arteta's side, Cuesta's youth and communication skills - he is fluent in six different languages - makes him a uniquely relatable figure on any coaching staff. As Arsenal loanee Nuno Tavares once explained: "Carlos can understand the players because he is also young. He helps me get better and better." Cuesta's reputation has grown to such an extent that Norwich City reportedly attempted to poach him in February 2024.

Miguel Molina

Assistant coach

The role of a team analyst is based on cold logic. But the white-hot emotion of Jorginho's stoppage-time strike for Arsenal against Aston Villa in February 2023 got the better of Miguel Molina. Arsenal's Spanish assistant coach was charged by the English FA for using "improper" language after engaging in a spat with his Villa counterpart Victor Manas in the cramped setting of Villa Park's press box.

Molina describes his role as a "tactical assistant coach", often taking up a position high in the stands to gain a bird's eye view during games, feeding any insights he can ascertain back to the staff on the touchline. The former Atletico Madrid employee, who boasts a degree in Sport and Exercise Science, is the voice coming out of the AirPods once worn by Stuivenberg, which Cuesta now operates.

Inaki Cana

Goalkeeping coach

The role of goalkeeping coach does a gross disservice to the influence that Inaki Cana exerts at Arsenal. The Spanish shot-stopping expert joined the club at the same time as Arteta, delivering decisive input into the position's personnel, approach and training regime. This has a knock-on effect across the rest of the team, as Cana pointed out: "Nowadays, in football, everything starts and ends with the goalkeeper."

Cana was a key figure behind the controversial arrival of David Raya in the summer of 2023, sidelining much-loved number-one Aaron Ramsdale. While working together at Brentford, Raya credits Cana with changing "my way of playing, my way of seeing the game". During their first season together at Arsenal, the Spanish keeper is the favourite to win the Premier League's Golden Glove award.

Nicolas Jover

Set-piece coach

Each time Arsenal have a dead-ball opportunity, there will be a blur of movement in the team's technical area. For once, Arteta is not the offending party. Nicolas Jover's sole focus is set pieces, which he feverishly directs from the touchline with a flurry of shouts and points.

Arteta convinced Jover to leave Manchester City for Arsenal in the summer of 2021, reaping the rewards of the Frenchman's impact almost immediately. The Gunners have evolved into the best dead-ball outfit in the division, leading the league in set-piece goals. It was put to Arteta that Jover may need a pay rise in December 2023, prompting the coach to coyly say they "can think about it".

Flo Newton

Club doctor

Sports consultant Dr Anthony Waring was at the front of the queue to heap praise on Dr Flo Newton when her promotion to the first team was announced in May 2020. "Aside from your incredible clinical acumen and dedication to work, there are few other nicer human beings in this world!!" Waring wrote on social media.

Gary O'Driscoll was the club's highly regarded first-team doctor from 2009 until September 2023. The experienced medical professional turned down a public approach from Liverpool in 2020 before joining Manchester United at the start of the season, making way for Newton to take on more responsibility at Arsenal.

Tom Allen

Head of Sports Science

Tom Allen is used to an ever-changing structural landscape. Across seven years at Aston Villa between 2011 and 2017, he worked with six different managers as the club got relegated. Allen saw off Wenger and Unai Emery within three years of joining Arsenal before Arteta arrived to bring some unfamiliar stability.

The sports scientist took over from Shad Forsythe in the summer of 2022 as head of the department, overseeing the fitness of the first team squad. Allen works closely with the physical data of each player to assess who is nearing the so-called 'Red Zone' of exhaustion. During his first full season in the role, Arsenal suffered 22 injuries, the third-best record in the Premier League.

Sam Wilson

Physical performance coach

Their faces may be unfamiliar to fans, but players - particularly those unfortunate enough to spend lengthy periods out injured - will be intimately familiar with the club's fitness coaches. Sam Wilson has been part of Arsenal's medical department since 2014, working his way through the youth teams before getting promoted to the senior side under Unai Emery.

Wilson's gradual rise has dovetailed with Bukayo Saka's trajectory. The Arsenal academy graduate has developed into the club's most valuable player, thanks in no small part to his enduring durability. Former club doctor Gary O'Driscoll explained that such a strong relationship with the medical team has helped Saka avoid any serious injury. "I'm sure it helps that he's come through a system where he has known me for 15 years, he's known Sam Wilson," O'Driscoll reflected. "We know where the lines are drawn with him and he trusts us and works with us."

Barry Solan

Strength and conditioning coach

Barry Solan has worked in rugby and football during a career which has taken him from his native Ireland to Australia and Poland before arriving at Arsenal in 2015. But in his experienced opinion, location has little impact on the dressing room atmosphere of a professional sports team. "Ah listen," he told The GAA Hour Show. "They're all the same."

According to Solan, every club has "sort of the same mix of characters - the loud ones, the quiet ones, the ones that are keen to work, the ones that need a kick in the bum". As Arsenal's leading strength and conditioning coach, Solan not only has to closely monitor every player's physical health, but he is in a perfect position to gauge their mental state.