Arsenal’s defeat against Olympiacos in their second leg in the Europa League was Mikel Arteta’s 20th defeat as Arsenal manager, the same number that earned Unai Emery the sack.
![Mikel Arteta has lost as many as Unai Emery but in fewer games 1 Arsenal's Spanish head coach Unai Emery gestures on the touchline during their UEFA Europa league Group F football match between Arsenal and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Emirates stadium in London on November 28, 2019. - Unai Emery's troubled tenure at Arsenal ended with him being sacked on November 29, 2019 less than two years after being appointed with the club on their worst run since 1992 having failed to win for seven matches. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)](/static/uploads/2019/11/unai-emery-v-frankfurt.jpg)
Let’s be clear, I’m not calling for Mikel Arteta to get the sack ,while I very much called for Unai Emery to get the sack, human brains and biases are like that.
Like most Arsenal fans, I want Arteta to succeed as Arsenal manager because of his history with the club. While I obviously didn’t want Unai Emery to fail, I wasn’t willing to be as patient with him because I knew him less.
I trusted his process less.
But, here we are, 73 games into Arteta’s Arsenal reign and, if we’re honest, things aren’t great.
Emery got 78 games but didn’t win a trophy. How much did the FA Cup win paper over the cracks for Arteta?
With nine games left in the league season, Arsenal are currently 9th on 42 points. We are the definition of a mid-table side and you know that because we are mid-table with 10 games to go.
Let’s not gloss over the truth.
There are 30 points on the table for Arteta and his cohorts, just one more than the gap between us and Manchester City currently. Sheffield United in 20th place are 28 behind.
As I said, Arsenal are the very definition of a midtable side.