Mikel Arteta is on course to lead Arsenal to second place in the Premier League for a third straight season and one former Gunners star thinks the manager’s frustrations are clear
Former Arsenal star Emmanuel Petit is worried for Mikel Arteta’s future at the club, believing Arteta is showing signs of coming to the end of his spell as manager.
For a third season in a row, it looks as though Arteta’s Gunners will finish as Premier League runners-up. However, after producing the club’s two best points totals since their Invincibles season while missing out to Manchester City in a pair of topsy-turvy title races, Arteta’s fifth full season has been more frustrating.
City’s struggles have left the door open for another club to claim top spot. Arsenal have been hit hard by injuries, though, and it would take a minor miracle for them to make up the 12-point gap to Liverpool with just nine games to go..
Arsenal can still end the season as Champions League winners, with reigning champions Real Madrid standing in their immediate way. Petit believes Arteta is finding it hard to hide his frustrations with the league form, though – especially in the recent home defeat at the hands of West Ham.
French midfielder Petit won a league and cup double with Arsenal in 1998 under Arsene Wenger, who went on to spend longer than anyone else as the Gunners’ boss. Arteta hasn’t spent close to as long in charge, but there are suggestions his time might be drawing to a close.
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“Arsenal lost the plot in the Premier League having been fighting with Liverpool, the West Ham game at home looked difficult to accept for him,” Petit told YaySweepstakes. “He’s going into his sixth full season as Arsenal manager, he has improved a lot and he has my full respect as do his staff. The identity and the mentality have been transformed, the DNA on and off the pitch.
“I thank Mikel for what he has done, but we are reaching the end of his story at Arsenal. The energy is no longer there and something is missing through no fault of his own, I think it’s down to lacking the right squad to do what he wants to do.
“Look at when William Saliba was missing in the title race (in 2022-23), when it gets down to these pivotal moments, they lack the options, the story keeps on repeating itself.
“I won’t point the finger at Arteta, the staff have improved collectively. But fighting to be a champion you need the tools to do it, the depth and quality are not right despite the chances to make it right. It looks like history will keep repeating itself.”
Arteta himself kept Arsenal’s slim title hopes alive with a 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday. He wasn’t entirely convinced by the performance in the London derby, but suggested points are more important than performances at this stage.
“Yeah, but today I would like to see a different scoreline, to be fair, with the amount of things that we do so well, the end product there has to improve because the moment I do that, you are very far away from the position,” he said. “We have to win our football matches, that’s what we have to do, win against Fulham and we’ll be closer.”
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