Jamie Carragher makes Mikel Arteta sack prediction after Arsenal draw with Liverpool

Jamie Carragher has warned Mikel Arteta that Arsenal could start ‘looking at how many managers can make that next step’ should the club fail to win any trophies again next season.

It has been an immensely disappointing end to the campaign for Arsenal both domestically and in Europe, with PSG knocking the club out of the Champions League after Liverpool were crowned Premier League champions.

It means the Gunners will once again finish without any silverware to their name this term and Arteta has come in for a fair amount of criticism from fans and pundits alike, despite the obvious progress made under his watch at the Emirates.

Barring two Community Shield triumphs, the 2019/20 FA Cup remains the only trophy that Arteta has lifted during his managerial reign.

On Sunday afternoon, the north Londoners looked to be heading for a fourth straight defeat in all competitions as Liverpool raced to a two-goal lead in front of a rapturous Anfield crowd.

But the visitors dug deep in the second period to rescue a point from the top-of-the-table clash after Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino – who was later sent off – both struck on Merseyside.

Facing the media after the 2-2 draw, an irate Arteta branded his side’s lacklustre first-half performance ‘unacceptable’.

‘What we did in the first half is nowhere near the level so to do it after that [fight back] is not acceptable. We reacted, great but it is unacceptable,’ the Arsenal head coach said in his post-match interview with Sky Sports.

Carragher sang Arteta’s praises for the consistently challenging at the top of the Premier League since the Spaniard took over the reins from Unai Emery in Unai Emery in 2019.

But the ex-Liverpool and England defender believes the Arsenal boss could face an uncertain future should it be a similar story for the club next season.

‘I’m a massive fan of Mikel Arteta, I think he’s a brilliant manager. The job he’s done, to get Arsenal where they are,’ Carragher said in the Sky Sports studio.

‘Let’s not forget, for a good few years it was them and Tottenham fighting for the Champions League positions.

‘They made this jump to compete with Manchester City and they followed it up again last season. And they’re the team that have pushed Liverpool this season.

‘This season felt like it should have been their season. There’s no doubt next season that the pressure will be on Mikel Arteta massively in terms of winning something and winning something big.

‘The Arsenal board, if they don’t do that [win a major trophy] will have a massive issue because they won’t want to change their manager, but there will be that many people saying: five or six years without a trophy.

‘They will be looking at how many managers can make that next step.’

Carragher says another trophyless season would leave Arsenal’s board with a ‘big conundrum’ in 12 months’ time.

‘The problem with changing Mikel Arteta because, as I said, he’s done a brilliant job at Arsenal,’ he added.

‘Arsenal could easily become what Chelsea are right now. They could go from a team coming second year in, year out to a team that doesn’t actually get into the Champions League.

‘That’s the big conundrum that Arsenal as a football club will have in 12 months, if Arsenal go close again don’t actually get across the line.’

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright, though, is confident Arteta still has the strong backing of club bosses, despite the club’s inauspicious end to the season.

‘I don’t worry for him because I know how much the owners think of him, I know how hard he’s working to get this right,’ Wright said on Premier League Productions.

‘Obviously, the forward is something we’ve missed out on and when you look at certain games, yeah, a forward would probably help us get it over the line.

‘That is something I believe, in this next window, needs to happen.’

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