Is Mikel Arteta fighting for his job in the Arsenal hotseat? Lose against Burnley on Sunday - and he definitely will be

Mikel Arteta

Is Mikel Arteta fighting for his job in the Arsenal hotseat? Lose against Burnley on Sunday - and he definitely will be

By Will Jennings

Arsenal fans – it’s time to get real.

It’s all well and good continuing to laud Mikel Arteta for his admirable footballing principles and cosy demeanour. We can continue to harp on about last season’s two – albeit one meaningless – trophies. We can continue to hail his laudable promotion of youth.

But the facts remain clear – Arsenal are 15th in the Premier League table after almost a third of the season. That alone is nothing short of an embarrassment.

Gone are the glory days under George Graham and Arsene Wenger. Gone are the days duelling it out with the European elite on the continent’s top table. Gone are the days of travelling to English footballing heavyweights and putting up a consistent fight.

The Gunners are in the mire – and it’s time to wake up and realise.

Sunday’s clash with Burnley is massive. Sean Dyche’s strugglers lie in the Premier League drop zone, seven points adrift of Arsenal and in urgent need of a win. And with 2,000 fans returning to the Emirates Stadium, you can bet your bottom dollar they’ll be up for the fight.

Arteta has shown signs of progress at Arsenal – that cannot be denied. Last season’s FA Cup triumph was an achievement for fans to savour, while lowering the colours of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the Community Shield was a significant moment.

Doing the same on penalties in this season’s Carabao Cup was also impressive. As was that 1-0 win at Old Trafford at the beginning of last month. But the truth remains, Arsenal are dropping far too many points, and sitting just seven points clear of the drop at this stage of the campaign is a shambles.

Arteta needs to be held to account. Of course, some of his intended big-hitters – Nicolas Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette and Granit Xhaka to name three – are misfiring and yes, the Gunners have struggled with injuries. But so has every team this season. The buck stops with the Spaniard, and that needs to be remembered.

Mikel Arteta

That is not to say Arteta needs to go. Far from it. However, Gunners fans need to wake up and smell the coffee and realise that 15th in the table, with four wins from 11 games, is nowhere near good enough for a great club.

What will Graham and his heroes of 1989 be thinking about this current mess? What about Wenger, and his thrilling Invincibles of 2003-04? Or even the totemic Herbert Chapman, who did so much revolutionary work in the club’s meteoric rise.

Two thousand fans will descend on the Emirates on Sunday as Arteta’s men bid to arrest a miserable run of home form. Dismal defeats against Leicester, Aston Villa and Wolves have contributed to one of the league’s worst home records – and it’s time to sort it out.

Those lucky 2,000 will make their feelings known. We can only imagine the rancour and toxicity that would have saturated the Emirates had fans been present for previous matches, while the Sunday night, Europa League-enforced slot is notorious for exacerbating supporters’ anger. With the weekend almost over and a working week looming, loyal fans will not hesitate in making their grievances known.

Which only heightens the importance of Sunday’s clash. Questions already need to be asked of a potentially-hapless Arteta, but defeat against 18th-place Burnley on home soil would be nothing short of inexcusable.

This season is still salvageable. Arsenal lie seven points off the drop but also just seven off the Europa League places, far from an unrealistic target as it stands. But is that really where we want to be aiming for anyway?

Much of the narrative around Arteta continues to centre on his progressive principles, coupled with his injection of a newfound steeliness to the Arsenal defence. But if either of those things had been consistently visible on even a few occasions this season, the Gunners would be nowhere near the position they are now.

Make no mistake, a defeat on Sunday and Arteta will be fighting for his job. With supporters finally back in the Emirates, it is vital his players pull their finger out and finally kickstart their miserable season.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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