Could Mikel Arteta be the first managerial casualty in the Premier League this season?

Mikel Arteta is walking on a thin line to save his job at Arsenal. After a resurgent end to last season, where Arteta guided the Gunners to F.A Cup glory, things have gone backwards for the Spanish coach

With fans starting to enter back into the football stadiums in some capacity, most teams playing at home this weekend in the premier league responded well with the support of fans behind them be it Fulham, Everton or Southampton.

However, Arsenal fans would have a sense of de-ja-vu when the Gunners welcomed Burnley at the Emirates Stadium. The 7.15 UK time Kick off for the Gunnners has proved to be a jinx this season having tasted four straight home defeat in the premier league against Leicester, Aston Villa, Wolves and now against Burnley. 

Mikel Arteta and his team looked out of their depth against Burnley. Granith Xhaka was sent off for grabbing Ashley Westwood by the neck in an embarresing incident for Arsenal Football Club. How would Mikel Arteta have felt after having put faith in the Swiss International despite his below average performances for the Gunners this season. 

To the add to the wounds, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored at the wrong end for Arsenal with an own goal that added salt to the wounds for the Gunners. Aubameyang's body language in the last few games has been shocking and the Gabonese looks a shadow of himself who was one of the most fierce forwards in Europe. 

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal's problems don't end here. The North Londoners currently lie on 15th in the Premier League table, just points clear of the relegation zone. Next up they face Southampton on Wednesday. The saints are in blistering form this season and currently sit on 3rd position in the table. 

Arsenal's other fixtures in December include Everton (A), Man City (H) {Carabao Cup}, and Chelsea (H). Mikel Arteta would be in serious trouble if Southampton get a positive result at the Emirates on Wednesday. 

For many clubs this season, it has been one step forward and two steps back. In the case of Arsenal however, its been a case of time inversion (Tenet reference) where they keep going backward in time to relive some of their shambolic performances in recent years.

The Arsenal invincibles era seems like a farfetched memory slowly fading with time. The current squad would not even make the reserves of the Invincibles team. 

Its never nice to see a manager getting sacked, but the competition and the nature of football is so result driven these days. Managers are hardly given a season or two to convert the team into a finished article, especiallly in the bigger clubs. There is so much riding on these clubs to maintain their position in the market, amongst their loyal fans and investors. 

Arsenal and even Manchester United in that case have fallen way behind in pecking order due to bad recruitment, chopping and changing of managers, lack of leaders in the squad. 

We feel Mikel Arteta will not able to sustain his job past December, the reason being that he is inexperienced as a Manager and this would be a completely new situation for him. Also Arteta doesn't have the personnel in his squad to actually get him out his slump. 

The exclusion of Mesut Ozil from the squad is as baffling for Arsenal fans as it is for neutrals as well. Having a player on such a high wage bill and not featuring in starting Xi for the Gunners is certainly not good man management on Arteta's part. Also his recent criticism of Nicholas Pepe after the latter was sent off against Leeds, begs to question how much Arteta trusts his current players and vice versa.

The Spaniard would have to wait till January transfer window to add some new recruitments to the squad. But the question would be, will Arteta survive as Arsenal manager come the new year.

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