Is Arteta's Job In Danger? Arsenal Boss Under Pressure from Gunners Supporters
It's all gone wrong for Mikel Arteta. Heading into the 2024-25 season, almost everyone, from media pundits to fans, expected it to be third time lucky for Arsenal. For the past two years, they'd pushed Manchester City to the absolute limit in back-to-back title races and solidified themselves as one of the Premier League's biggest threats, so it seemed natural that this would be the season where they finally got it over the line. But it hasn't materialised. Instead, the exact opposite has happened.
Following a strong start to the campaign, which saw most bookies list Arsenal as the title favourites, Arsenal have collapsed. Their league form has stuttered, the free-flowing attacking football from previous years has vanished, and there's now an overreliance on set pieces to get goals. Simply put, Arsenal are a shadow of their former selves.
Everything has come to a head following Arsenal's third-round elimination from the FA Cup by a 10-man Manchester United team. Despite a poor run of form in the Premier League, Gunners supporters were clinging onto the hope that Arteta would at least come good in one of the cup competitions. But so far, they've been underwhelming in the Champions League and are 2-0 down heading into the second leg of their League Cup tie with Newcastle. Because of this, the FA Cup was looking like Arsenal's best chance to win a trophy this season, but Manchester United have spoiled the party.
After losing to the Red Devils on penalties in the third round of the FA Cup, it looks almost certain that Arsenal will end the campaign trophyless for the fifth season in a row. Even though Arteta has made tremendous progress on the field in his half-decade stint with the Gunners, the fact that he's spent over £700m on players since arriving and only has one FA Cup to show for it is extremely concerning — and it's led to many supporters starting to turn on him.
Will Arteta Be Sacked? The Latest Odds
It's official: Arteta is under the most pressure he's ever been since joining Arsenal back in 2019. Years of heavy transfer spending and a lack of trophies to account for have led him to this place, with even some of the most tolerant Arsenal fans starting to voice their displeasure in the Emirates stadium and on social media.
However, even though the pressure is starting to mount, most of today's betting sites, where you can deposit as low as a few pounds, only have Arteta listed at 33/1 odds to be sacked. What this means is that they don't expect him to be sacked — at least for now, anyway. After all, the Spaniard does have a lot of credit in the bank following his back-to-back title races with Manchester City, so the Arsenal hierarchy are likely to give him at least until the end of the season to turn things around.
The slight concern for Arsenal should be the fact that this could potentially turn into a repeat of the Arsene Wenger situation from all those years ago. At the back end of the Wenger era, the divide in the Arsenal fanbase was huge: some desperately wanted Wenger gone, while others were fighting for him to stay. It led to what many people call the toxic ‘banter era', which saw fans of other clubs relentlessly mock Arsenal every time the club was on the wrong end of a result. Naturally, Gunners supporters won't want a repeat of this, but the reaction following Arsenal's third-round FA Cup exit to Manchester United is an indicator that history might suddenly repeat itself.
Arsenal's Struggles Caused By the Lack of a Big-Name Striker
Arsenal have struggled to find the ideal replacement for Aubameyang, with Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Jesus, and (most recently) Kai Havertz all failing to prove themselves as genuine centre-forwards. Ultimately, it's come back to bite Arteta, who is now stuck with a stagnant attacking line that's too reliant on set pieces.
How Arteta Can Save Arsenal's Season
If Arteta is to save Arsenal's season and his job as manager, his main focus has to be picking up a trophy. With Arsenal officially out of the FA Cup, the best hope they have is somehow turning it around at St. James' Park in February when they head there for the 2nd leg.
If it proves impossible to get a trophy this season, Arteta can at least win some of the fans back by restoring Arsenal's excellent attacking form from previous seasons. During the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, Arsenal terrified most Premier League teams going forward, so Arteta needs to try and recapture their form of old rather than focusing on the overly defensive and pragmatic style that the Gunners are currently adopting.
Depending on what happens between now and the end of the season, Arteta might do enough for the board to keep faith in him. In this case, the next step will be to rebuild for next season and prioritize signing a striker above everything else. As of right now, Arsenal have a near perfect squad, but it's painfully obvious that the missing piece of the puzzle is a striker. Ivan Toney was arguably the ideal striker to fill that role, but he's now playing in the Saudi Pro League. There aren't that many other great strikers on the market at the moment, so Arteta and his team will have to work around the clock to get the right player in, as Gabriel Jesus and Kai Kavertz have repeatedly proven that they can't be trusted as out-and-out strikers.
What Has Arteta Won As a Manager?
During his time as Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has won x1 FA Cup and x2 Community Shields. In the eyes of many Arsenal fans, Arteta's trophy cabinet is lacking and it simply isn't enough, especially considering he's spent over £700m bringing in the likes of record-breaking signing Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Jesus. Arteta's cause also isn't helped by the fact that Arne Slot looks like he's going to win the title in his first season with Liverpool, which makes Arteta's demands for patience now subject to scrutiny. The counterargument is that Arteta has successfully taken Arsenal on two back-to-back title races and turned the Gunners into one of the country's best teams, so should therefore be given more time. There's certainly a case for both sides — but what's clear to see is that Arteta does need to deliver a trophy sooner rather than later if he wants to keep his job.
What Has Arteta Won As a Manager?
Has Arteta taken Arsenal as far as he can? Possibly, but only time will tell. There's nothing to say that Arteta won't turn things around and get Arsenal back as genuine title contenders again, but all signs currently point to this being the beginning of the end for the Spaniard. After five years of big money being spent across the transfer windows, Gunners supporters are desperate to start seeing results. If Arteta isn't able to deliver them, it will almost certainly lead to increased levels of revolt across the fanbase, with many already calling for him to be replaced.