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Arsenal take on high-flying Southampton on Wednesday night in what has become a crucial Premier League fixture for manager Mikel Arteta. With one win and just two goals in their last eight league games, the pressure is very much on the 38-year old rookie boss.
Unlike their opponents, who currently occupy a UEFA Champions League place, Arsenal are uncharacteristically looking over their shoulder at the wrong end of the table, and the 1-0 defeat to Burnley on Sunday evening emphasised and exposed everything that is wrong with the current side.
Trouble at the Emirates
Devoid of confidence and creativity, the frustration within the ranks is clearly evident, and the problems that the side are experiencing were made worse by the return of the fans at the Emirates Stadium.
Although restricted in numbers, those that remained at the final whistle largely did so to show their feelings of frustration at the current situation.
It was a year ago this week that Mikel Arteta was handed the reins of the club that he once graced as a player. A cultured midfielder, his popularity remains high with the majority of the fans, but the modern game allows for little sentiment or patience. Despite already lifting the FA Cup and Community Shield, silverware comes secondary to points when the situation becomes perilous.
The departure of Arsène Wenger in 2018 after 22 years as manager was always likely to result in a turbulent time of transition, and the warning signs for Arsenal were clear from Sir Alex Ferguson's exit from Manchester United a few years before.
Unai Emery tried and failed to deliver success in this new era, and now the focus returns to the long-term project.
As with Sir Alex Ferguson, the immediate successor to Arsène Wenger was always likely to struggle. It would have been an impossible situation for Mikel Arteta at the time, although he was linked with the job while he was still developing his own coaching philosophy alongside Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. But taking his opportunity last December was a brave but necessary step in his journey.
An ageing squad that is failing to produce
Arsenal could yet follow the same unsuccessful model of Manchester United and make a string of managerial changes, but the subsequent downfall at Old Trafford has shown that names alone do not deliver success. Mikel Arteta must now be considered the man for the long-term project, and he will be at the club a lot longer than his current squad of players.
While Mesut Özil, at 32 years, is set to be the next high-profile departure, David Luiz (33), Willian (32), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (32) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (31) are all entering their final years at the highest-level. Alexandre Lacazette turns 30 in May, while Granit Xhaka's continued erratic behavior makes him a liability who is having an obviously negative effect on the side.
At the other end of the scale, the talented duo of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli (both 19), together with Joe Willock and Eddie Nketiah (both 21), offer hope for a brighter future.
Kieran Tierney is only 23 but has already shown more maturity in his play than the majority of the senior figures in the squad this season. These are the players that will define Mikel Arteta's Arsenal if he is given the necessary time and support.
And Arsenal have a responsibility to give Mikel Arteta the time he needs to shape and build this team in his own vision. Arsenal offered him his first post at the age of just 37 at a club with ambitions to challenge at the top of the Premier League and compete for European honors, thus, a degree of patience and support was always going to be necessary as he develops as a manager.
Experience does not guarantee success
A proven manager would have been seen as a safer option, but even the most-experienced figures cannot guarantee success at the highest level. There is already pressure on the club and Mikel Arteta to turn things around very quickly, such is the nature of the beast, but the appointment of the man from San Sebastián showed a vision based on first building a solid foundation to attain success in the future.
As a club, Arsenal have been starved of success for too long, and the FA Cup glory under both Arsène Wenger and Mikel Arteta in recent years is simply not enough. Even reaching the UEFA Europa League final under Unai Emery was considered a failure as the club were defeated 4-1 by London rivals Chelsea. Expectations are high at the Emirates Stadium, despite the club last lifting the league title in 2004.
Reversing this difficult run of form will be Mikel Arteta's toughest challenge as he reaches the anniversary of his appointment, and the honeymoon period is well and truly over.
MIkel Arteta's ability to turn things around will show his true competence for the job, while supporting him or replacing him if he fails, will show the true character of his employers, whichever decision they make.
Ultimately, results will depend on his players performing, and there have been too many abject and inconsistent individual displays in recent weeks. Reflecting badly on Mikel Arteta, it will be difficult for him to trust certain players at the present time, but this is the squad he has to work with in order to ensure he is allowed to continue with this particular project into the new year.
Having got a glowing reference from Pep Guardiola, it is clear that Mikel Arteta is a talented and knowledgeable coach. He will succeed in this next chapter of his football career, and taking on the challenge of moving Arsenal in a new direction in the aftermath of Arsène Wenger and Unai Emery in his first post will be the steepest learning curve that he will experience.
Saints rewarded for management belief
Southampton head to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night high in confidence and belief. Under manager Ralph Hasenhüttl they have developed an impressive style of play despite the constraints they operate within in comparison to some of the leading clubs that they are now challenging against at the top of the table since his appointment exactly two years ago.
Although Ralph Hasenhüttl has been at Southampton twice as long as Mikel Arteta has been at Arsenal, the board at St. Mary's stuck with him in October 2019 when his side suffered a Premier League record 9-0 home defeat to Leicester City.
The support for the manager has paid off, and Arsenal must also now appreciate that success in the modern game is a marathon, and not always a high-spending sprint.
