As we move towards the end of the year, Arsenal still find themselves, incredibly, down in 15th position in the Premier League.
After such a sparkling end to their 2019/20 campaign when Mikel Arteta brought another FA Cup win to the club and tied Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang down to a new deal, things have gone badly wrong at the North London club.
Former Gunner and now successful Sky Sports pundit, Paul Merson, isn’t in any doubt who is to blame too.
“I’m watching the game against Southampton and I’m thinking that half the Southampton players would get in the Arsenal team,” he said on Sky Sports, cited by the Daily Star.
“People like that [Granit Xhaka], without being horrible get the manager the sack. They get the manager the sack because they go down to 10 men and that’s it, end of the game.
“It just summed it up last week, and this is no respect to Southampton Football Club because they are doing well and they are a good team, but half the players would get in the Arsenal team, and that should not be right.”
When you consider how competitive Arsenal were under George Graham when Merson was in his pomp, and then again under Arsene Wenger, to watch their current XI amble around in every match must be hugely frustrating for Arteta.
It probably won’t take too many more poor results for the Spaniard to be given his marching orders, but will that reflect more on him or his players if it happens?