Arsenal will play probably their most important game of the current season on Thursday when they face Villarreal in the Europa League semi-final.
The Gunners lost the first leg 2-1 in Spain but a crucial away goal by Nicolas Pepe means they are still hanging on for dear life in this two-legged tie.
Mikel Arteta remains confident that his side will be able to turn things around at home but according to former West Ham striker Frank McAvennie, if Arsenal cannot overcome that deficit in the second leg then Arteta could be shown the door soon after.
He told Football Insider: “Arteta will have known, he knows the risk. He knew that when he took the job. That’s the nature of sport.
“I don’t think it will worry him too much, it’s the only job in the world where you get rewarded for failure.
“I think he’s a good guy, a good coach. He’s trying to do things his way but it’s just not working. He’s had key players out, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang and [Kieran] Tierney. But there’s a lot of boys at Arsenal who just aren’t good enough.
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“But no Europe next year and no trophies, I think that’s enough.”
Arsenal had improved somewhat under Mikel Arteta last season but this season they have once again slipped down the ladder and are currently ninth on the Premier League table so they have no way of qualifying for Europe next season while the league standings.
So the only way the North London side can get back into the Champions League is if they can win the Europa League this time around.
A failure to do so will result in severe revenue losses and there’s no way KSE will keep faith in Mikel Arteta for one more season. So effectively, the Arsenal manager is going to field a team this Thursday to save his job at the club.
