Arsenal legend Lehmann sends Arteta sack warning after Champions League defeat to PSG
Arsenal legend Jens Lehmann insists that Gunners boss Mikel Arteta will face the sack next season if he doesn’t win the Premier League.
The Gunners are set for second place in the Premier League for the third season in a row after Liverpool were confirmed as champions on Sunday.
An impressive 5-1 win over Tottenham sealed the Reds’ 20th English top-flight title with Arne Slot’s side 15 points ahead of Arsenal heading into the final four matches of the season.
Arsenal haven’t been able to get close to Liverpool in the second half of the campaign but they have been buoyed by their impressive showing in the Champions League.
Two brilliant displays against Real Madrid secured a 5-1 aggregate win in the quarter-finals to secure their place against Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals.
Despite having a number of good chances to score, Arsenal could not break through PSG’s defence in midweek in their first leg and Ousmane Dembele’s early goal has given the French side a 1-0 lead heading into the second leg next Wednesday.
There is still a chance that Arsenal can get through to the final and pick up some silverware this season but Lehmann reckons Arteta is likely to face the sack next season unless he wins the Premier League.
Lehmann told talkSPORT: “I think he started with a bad start, but you have to give a lot of credit to him.
“He pulled himself out, he changed the team and now he has made them very stable, and stable at the top, which is fantastic for the current owner, because he generates the money.’
“And on top if it, if they don’t win, he doesn’t need to pay him extra bonuses!”
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Lehmann continued: “But obviously, he has to win next year.
“This year, they could have won [the Premier League], Man City dropped a little bit, Liverpool replaced them.
“Next year he has to win, but he probably needs to change his personality a little bit to win things.
“Because sometimes, it’s [about] control and being cautious. But if you want to win some things, in my opinion you could be a little more risky.
“But that’s next year – next week is super important, I cross my fingers that they will score two goals and will not concede one.”
Mikel Merino, who has been playing as a makeshift striker for Arsenal over the last few months, insists that the Gunners “can’t wait to go to Paris” after losing the first leg in the Champions League.
Merino told reporters: “It was a tough game. Every minute counts, and in the first 10-15 minutes maybe we didn’t perform at the level we are used to, but I think the team recovered really well from the goal. We showed a lot of character and personality, and we almost dominated the rest of the game.
“We know we have a really good team, a powerful team, and we are really confident that we’re going to win the second leg. I think people are optimistic. We know that what we showed today is just the beginning of what we are, and obviously really confident, really full of power for the second leg.
“I think what we’ll learn is that we are able to dominate any team, anywhere. This is a team that really wants to be the ball the whole time, really wants to keep you in your box.
“Today we proved that we can play against anyone and be the main team on the pitch. Today showed us that we are really capable of performing anywhere. We can’t wait to go to Paris.”
