Mikel Arteta needs to quit if Arsenal don’t win the Premier League – here are three reasons why

Mikel Arteta should quit as Arsenal manager if they don’t win the Premier League title this season.

That’s according to talkSPORT’s chief football correspondent Alex Crook, who has slammed Arteta‘s tactics, transfers and mentality.

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The Gunners missed the chance to go seven points clear at the top of the table on Wednesday night, drawing 2-2 with Wolves.

They threw away a two-goal lead against the bottom-of-the-table side, bringing rivals Manchester City right back into contention.

And now just two points separate the top two sides, with Man City beating Newcastle on Saturday to close the gap.

It means Arsenal are facing concerns that they will end up ‘bottling’ the Premier League title race once again this season, only winning two of their last seven games, drawing their last two.

And if they do end up missing out on silverware, Crook believes that Arteta should walk away from the club after seven years, during which he has won the FA Cup and two Community Shields.

‘Bore us to death’

Crook took aim at how the Spaniard sets up his team on the talkSPORT Daily podcast: “If Arsenal don’t win the league, I think it will be an incredible failure and I think it’ll be on Mikel Arteta. I would go as far as to say he should offer to quit.

“If they blow the title again…I was watching the Wolves game and they weren’t even in the game, Arsenal were strolling around and keeping possession; it was a training match.

“But there lies the problem – if you’re champions elect and 1-0 up after four minutes against probably the worst team the Premier League has ever seen…you go for the jugular.

“You get the second goal and get the third goal, get the fourth goal. Goal difference could be vital in the title race.

“So to not do that and go back to this safety-first football and put the handbrake on, alright, you do get the second goal, but you invite Wolves back into the game.

“And the way they crumble at the end, Declan Rice, he took nearly a minute to take a corner, this is one of Arsenal’s leaders, away from home against a team bottom of the table. That’s embarrassing.

“Then you had Trossard trying to get a Wolves player sent off, get up, mate, get on with the game, this is huge, stop wasting time.

“And there’s a theme here isn’t there, in recent weeks when it comes to Arsenal, Manchester United at home, Brentford away…they had two shots at Brentford, two shots in a London derby.

“What are we going to see from Arsenal this weekend [against Tottenham in the North London derby]?

“He’s got players there who are more than capable of putting Wolves to the sword, but they’re not doing it.

“They’re trying to plod their way to the Championship…if they don’t win it…I think Arteta has got to walk away.”

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Crook continued: “He’s spent zillions of pounds on this squad, he’s got the best squad in the league, options all over the pitch.

“This is not a brilliant Man City side, but Arsenal should not only be winning this league, but they should do it at a canter.

“We should be sat here in May and they should be 10 points clear of everyone else, it’s not going to happen.

“I feel for Viktor Gyokeres, he doesn’t score goals because he never gets any chances, as Arsenal don’t create chances.

“They just want to defend their way, bore us to death to the Championship.”

And that’s not the only issue Crook has with Arsenal and Arteta, as he had two more reasons why the manager should quit.

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Wasting money

Crook went on to discuss Arteta’s spending further and pointed out a potential misuse of talent with Eberechi Eze.

He ranted on talkSPORT Daily: “I think he should quit. I think he should say: ‘I’ve been here six years, you’ve given me everything I want and I’ve not been able to deliver’.

“We were talking about Arsenal winning the quadruple, it’s just as possible that they don’t win anything, because of Arteta – they might still win it, but if they don’t, he’s got to go.

“If he doesn’t see it through, I don’t know how they don’t change it. He’s been given everything he wanted, they wasted huge amounts of money getting rid of egos like [Mesut] Ozil and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang because Arteta wanted them out.

“They’re spending money on players they don’t even need, like Eze, who doesn’t even get in the team when there are two people injured, that’s £60million they might as well have flushed it down the toilet.

“And they’ve wasted his career too….I’m baffled by some of Arteta’s management.”

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‘Garbage’ mentality

Arteta has also come under fire for his mentality following his opinion on Arsenal’s draw with Wolves in midweek.

“I was fascinated by a quote he gave after the Wolves game, he said: ‘This isn’t to do with attitude and desire, it’s part of football’,” a baffled Crook added.

“It was like he was saying that they can’t control what happened tonight, yes you can! What kind of manager, who gives up a two-goal lead at the top of the table against the team at the bottom that wasn’t on double-figure points, says that there’s nothing we can do about it, it’s just football?

“That’s some of the worst manager speak I’ve ever heard and if I was a player listening to that, I’d be thinking: ‘Who is this guy, he’s full of crazy talk in team talks and now he’s saying that’.

“Absolute garbage. I think he’s lost his way.

“He may prove me wrong, but if they don’t win the title or Champions League, he should at least offer to resign.”