Mikel Arteta took on the Arsenal job in 2019 after Unai Emery had left a broken dressing room and the club in decline.
The Spaniard may have failed to arrest the slide in the league but an FA Cup in addition to transformative recruitment alongside technical director Edu is beginning to show the potential of a squad worthy of helping Arsenal again reach Champions League qualification.
Not only has Arteta begun to turn the tide but his position has manager has seen several high-profile names fall away and depart from their sides while he continues on. With even more possible sackings to come in the weeks and months to follow.
Tottenham’s sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo sees the second Spurs boss lose their job during Arteta’s time with the club. Jose Mourinho was also sacked towards the end of last season and, for the first time in his career, failed to win a trophy at his club.
Mikel Arteta, as mentioned, picked up an FA Cup whilst Mourinho watched on and the Spaniard is now looking to build something at Arsenal with a unified dressing room whereas the Portuguese brought only division in his ranks.
Thomas Tuchel’s success at Chelsea was seen after the sacking of iconic figure Frank Lampard. Despite a transfer ban, Lampard earned Chelsea a top 4 place but lost the FA Cup final to Arteta’s Arsenal after being tactically outclassed.
But his failure to make use of the mega 2020 summer spending caused Roman Abramovich to take action.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks to be the next boss to feel the curse of Arteta’s tenure. Despite a recent 3-0 win over Tottenham, the pressure has continued to grow on the Norwegian.
Arsenal face Manchester United at the end of the month, meaning Arteta could even be a direct cause of Solskjaer’s demise. United and Arsenal sit on the same number of points despite the Red Devils adding Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo to their already wildly expensive squad.
Spurs are linked with Antonio Conte to replace the aforementioned Nuno Espirito Santo. The Italian, should he take over, will then join the challenge of attempting to outlast Arteta.
Mikel Arteta persists with the faith of his players and executives behind him. He is being given the time to build and the hope will be that this support will pay off at the end of this season.
The signings have been good, the results are improving alongside the performances, but the season’s end will bring with it the judgement. Whether Arteta survives will depend very much upon this campaign’s outcome.
But Arteta can look back upon the names he has outlasted during this time with some pride in the work he has done in a hyper-competitive and cut-throat Premier League.
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