Arsenal: 5 factors to save Mikel Arteta’s job and the season

The world is caving in on Mikel Arteta and we’re only three matches into the new domestic league campaign. His tenure as Arsenal boss has been riddled with murmurs of job insecurity and unless he rewrites the narrative then the growing whispers shan’t dissipate.

It’s a results business. Words uttered many times over that suitably cover all the bases of the sport. As a manager you can oversee ten fixtures where you’ve doubled the opponent’s xG or whatever metric of your choosing, but if the scoreline isn’t in your favour then there is no hiding.

Unai Emery’s 22-game unbeaten run is a fine example: Arsenal were not good value for those matches and lucky on numerous occasions but, ultimately, the points were secured.

With back-to-back eighth place finishes sitting on Arteta’s CV, kicking off the new Premier League campaign with their worst start since 1954/55 isn’t the reassuring rallying call that the tide is turning.

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Mikel Arteta is running out of time to save his Arsenal job and in order to rescue the 2021/22 season he will need to manage 5 key factors

He has to start overseeing victories. If there is no success in the short-term then there will be no Arteta in the long-term. Even a few victories won’t cut it as the scale of the turnaround he needs to complete is greater than ever before.

Being backed unlike any manager previously with £150m worth of investment in the form of six new players, he will never have felt better placed to master a revolution.

However, six new additions are not going to suddenly catapult Arsenal into a top six side. They can certainly help, and who knows how quickly they hit the ground running, yet realistically there are some elements beyond Arteta’s control and some only of his control that have to come off to rescue this season.

And also save his job. How can he salvage this wreckage? What needs to happen? Well, a few aspects are imperative and now he has a squad that another manager might be more keen on inheriting, he has to get his act together.

1. Get Aubameyang and Co. Scoring Some **** Goals

Goes without saying, right?

There is no way of foreseeing anything that can be blanketed as a successful season for Arsenal if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is not scoring around 20 goals in the Premier League. One of the best penalty box strikers in the division, he is the Gunners’ biggest goal threat.

Another ten-goal league haul will see Arsenal plummet, hence why Arteta sought to remedy this with the permanent capture of Martin Odegaard.

Whether or not he is the key to unlocking the captain is contingent on Arteta striking an attacking balance with his forwards that complements the Gabon international. It can alter based on the opposition, but the trio of Emile Smith Rowe, Odegaard and Bukayo Saka is one that caters to Aubameyang.

These three are the best movers and space invaders of the forwards and those who have the tools to feed the starving No. 14.

But goals must be shared. Arteta has to utilise Nicolas Pepe in a way that enhances his goal threat and find a way to get his two young stars on the scoresheet more often. It hinges on getting them into the right areas of the pitch and this is something preached and perfected on the training pitch.