Arteta appointed Arsenal head coach

Arsenal have confirmed the appointment of Mikel Arteta as their new head coach.

The former Arsenal midfielder takes up his first job in management, leaving his role as assistant coach under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

The 37-year-old succeeds Unai Emery, who left Emirates Stadium last month, on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

“This is a huge honour,” Arteta told the club’s official website. “Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world.

“We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke, and the senior people from the club.

“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it. I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy.”

Interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg picked up four points from the last four matches, leaving the Gunners in 10th, seven points adrift of Chelsea in fourth.

Arteta made 119 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, having joined the north Londoners from Everton in August 2011.

The club say Arteta will take charge from Sunday in preparation for the trip to AFC Bournemouth, after their match away to Everton, who he spent seven years with as a player, on Saturday.