Arteta Under Pressure As Arsenal Suffer Worst Ever Start To Premier League Season

When Mikel Arteta was hired to replace Unai Emery as Arsenal manager, the Spaniard was warmly welcomed. He came with a glowing reference from Pep Guardiola, who had employed him as assistant manager at Manchester City, and he was also fondly remembered by Gunners fans from his time as a player at the club.

However, after a disappointing finish in the EPL last season, 8^th in the table, plus a semi-final defeat to Villarreal in the Europa League, the Gunners are yet to win a game this season. Having lost three of their four pre-season friendlies and drawn the other, they then followed that with two 2-0 defeats, away to Brentford and at home to Chelsea to kick off their EPL season.

Having invested a significant sum of money to tie down Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on a highly paid contract last season, the Gunners owners have also splashed out on the likes of Thomas Partey, Willian, Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Ben White, Kieran Tierney and now Martin Odegaard in recent times.

They rightfully expect some positivity from these signings but as yet, Arsenal and Arteta have not yet delivered, much to the dismay of many of their fans.

And if you’d signed up to bet365 Sport and were thinking of spending some of your bet365 Credits on backing the Gunners to win the title, they are now a 150/1 shot to do so, that is the same as Everton and far behind the top teams in the betting, which is still led by Manchester City, although the Citizens have drifted to 6/5.

And Gunners fans looking for a little respite from the bad news won’t be happy to hear that this weekend, their team travels to Manchester to face Man City, the current Premier League Champions and the team that stuck five past Norwich last weekend.

So where has it all gone wrong for the Gunners in recent times and how have they gone from being one of the top two or three in the Premier League, to now sitting second from bottom having endured their worst ever start to a Premier League season?

Putting The Finger On Arsenal’s Woes

In truth, finding the reason behind Arsenal’s decline is impossible to do over the last couple of years alone. It was clearly evident in the final few season’s of Arsene Wenger’s reign at the club that the Gunners had started to perform well below the standard that they had come to expect.

Disenchantment with the board, and at times the manager, grew and even when Wenger went and his replacement, Unai Emery came in, there was never universal approval for the board from fans and a continued lack of form soon saw the Spaniard move on.

Emery lost 20 of his first 78 games as Arsenal manager, and was moved on shortly thereafter. Arteta has lost 25 of his first 88 games and there is no doubt that the pressure is very much on the Spaniard.

Other issues have exacerbated their loss of form. The manager’s insistence of playing the ball out from the back saw Arsenal give away a number of very soft goals over the last few years, a fact which has irritated many fans.

The situation with club captain Granit Xhaka has been another polarising issue, with Xhaka openly dissenting against Arsenal fans when he was substituted in a game a couple of years back as Gunners fans applauded his withdrawal.

Yet despite this, the Swiss star remained at the club and has now signed a contract extension and been reappointed captain.

There was then the issue of some big players signing for big money and only showing their class in fits and starts. Aubameyang over the last couple of years, as well as Nicolas Pepe have been guilty of that, as has Alexandre Lacazette. Thomas Partey is yet to show his true qualities too.

Some signings have done well, such as Kieran Tierney for example, while youngsters coming through such as Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Folarin Balogun, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Eddie Nketiah have all done well.

There is no doubt that Arsenal have the core of a very good young team there, but it is very much one that will mature and improve but many Arsenal fans are impatient for success after several years now where the team has only enjoyed relative success in the occasional cup competition.

Then last season’s failed European Super League project, in which Arsenal were involved, has further alienated the fan base away from the club owners, to the point where relations between the two have plummeted still further.

With no European football, the Gunners have found it hard to attract new players to the club, with some targets openly rejecting Arsenal due to a lack of Champions League football and in truth, Arsenal are a million miles away from being a genuine contender in the top four.

This Season – Disappointments Continue

Arsenal’s start to this season has continued the downward trend for the Gunners. No wins in pre-season of note was followed by a hugely disappointing performance in a 2-0 defeat away to newly promoted Brentford.

Then, they were well beaten at home by Chelsea last weekend, a 2-0 defeat that could easily have been four or five for their London rivals.

Their chances of recording a win this weekend are small as they travel north to take on Manchester City. They have not beaten Manchester City in the Premier League since December 2015, with only two FA Cup wins over City during that time, both coming in semi-finals at Wembley.

City have won ten of the last eleven games between the two teams. They have scored 26 goals in those games, while Arsenal have managed just five goals in the same period.

The teams met three times last season, City winning both games in the Premier League by a 1-0 scoreline and also emerging with a 4-1 win in the League Cup just before Christmas.

Antonio Conte In?

There has already been talk that Arsenal bosses may be looking to replace Arteta and that clamour will likely grow if Arsenal lose yet another game on Saturday.

Top of the list to come in seems to be former Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan boss Antonio Conte, who left Inter at the end of the season after ending Juventus dominance in Serie A by leading the Italian side to the Serie A title last year.

Whether Arsenal pull the plug on Arteta and try to make Conte the new manager, it is still going to be an arduous task getting Arsenal back to the glory days that they had become accustomed to and it may well take a lot longer, and a bit more pain, before the Gunners get there.