Arsenal: Ornstein reveals Arteta sack update as Carragher sends ‘serious implications’ warning
Respected reporter David Ornstein has provided an update on Mikel Arteta’s future at Arsenal as he looks to end their long trophy drought.
Arteta is one of the longest-serving managers in the Football League, but he is under pressure to deliver silverware for Arsenal this season.
For a while, the 2025/26 campaign looked set to be a special season for Arsenal, though they have crumbled in recent weeks.
Having failed in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, Arsenal’s Quadruple hopes are over, but they remain in contention for the Premier League and Champions League.
Arsenal face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals, while they are six points clear of Man City in the Premier League table. However, the league title is in the hands of their rivals, who have a game in hand ahead of Sunday’s potentially decisive clash between the two teams at the Etihad.
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Arteta has rarely been under this much pressure at Arsenal, and Ornstein suspects he may be out of a job if his side fail to win the Premier League and/or Champions League this season.
“I’m sure Arsenal want Arteta to continue into next season and beyond (he’s contracted until June 2027 at present), while it sounds from Arteta’s own words as though he wants the same,” Ornstein said in Q&A for The Athletic.
“If things go badly for them between now and the summer, I’m sure there will be some very difficult conversations and it would be naive of me to say I can’t see a world in which he departs – nothing surprises you in football and (for various reasons) I would say that about pretty much every Premier League club at the moment.
“So, the intention is clear – but obviously there is a lot riding on the weeks ahead.”
And while previewing Sunday’s game between Arsenal and Man City, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has warned Arteta that he faces ‘serious implications’ if he does not win a trophy this season.
‘An Arsenal win at the Etihad will allow them to ease over the finishing line. A draw means they can crawl across. Lose, and the momentum shift will be such that it would be a shock if Pep Guardiola is not wearing the crown again in May,’ Carragher wrote for The Telegraph.
‘The stakes are high for both clubs and managers, but there is an inescapable sense that the pressure is even greater on the league leaders.
‘For Mikel Arteta, the implications of falling short will be more serious; the validity of his approach hinges entirely on whether he is a Premier League or European champion over the next two months.
‘A triumph will render all criticism up to this point of his reign irrelevant and meaningless. Fall short, and the recovery period will be one of rancour and recrimination.’
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