The embattled football manager of Arsenal Mikel Arteta reportedly has until October international break to prove himself or lose his managerial seat at the Emirates Stadium.
If he fails to improve the fate of Arsenal before the international break, viral reports claimed that the club’s board might replace him with Antonio Conte.
Recall that Mikel Arteta became the coach of Arsenal in 2019, after spending about three years at Manchester City as an assistant coach to Pep Guardiola. He replaced a fellow Spanish tactician Unai Emery.
Since then, Arteta has shown a bit of brilliance. He helped Arsenal to win the 2019-2020 FA Cup and the 2020 FA Community Shield. He however failed to push the club back to the top four.
Despite the coach’s inability to give Arsenal a top-four finish, the club always urged the club’s supporters to believe in the process Arteta has been overseeing.
So far in the 2021-2022 season, Mikel Arteta has continued to struggle to give Arsenal a resounding season. The club have recorded two successive defeats.
Recall that Arsenal lost their opening game of the season to newly-promoted Brentford 2-0. A weekend after, Chelsea visited the Emirates Stadium and got sparked 2-0 again.
These two defeats have pushed Arsenal down to the 19th spot with the same number of defeats as bottom-placed Norwich City. Their next Premier League game is against Manchester City and the London-based club could suffer a third successive defeat.
20 – Mikel Arteta suffered his 20th defeat as Arsenal manager in the Premier League, in what was his 60th game – while Arsène Wenger didn’t register his 20th defeat with the Gunners in the competition until his 116th game. Gulf. pic.twitter.com/NRgTaGKFSW
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 22, 2021
These two defeats came after Arsenal spent about £129 million in bringing in new players to beef up the squad. Some of the superstars Arsenal have signed this summer include Albert Sambi Lokonga, Ben White, Nuno Tavares, and Aaron Ramsdale.
Hence, Mikel Arteta might be the first football manager that might be sacked. The club’s board have already started looking at the direction of Antonio Conte who have been without a job since he left Inter Milan at the end of 2020-2021 season.
Recall that the Italian tactician helped Inter Milan to win the Italian Serie A title for the first time in over 10 years in the 2020-2021 season. He had to leave the club because he didn’t agree with the financial and transfer policy of the club.
Conte was wanted at Tottenham Hotspur when the club sacked Jose Mourinho but refused to join the club. Since Arsenal are not playing in a European competition this season, it might be difficult for him to join the club if Arteta is sacked.
Aside from him, Arsenal are considering Portuguese tactician Paulo Fonseca, Eddie Howe, and the current coach of Leicester City, Brendan Rodgers as alternative replacements for Mikel Arteta if he fails to deliver before October.
