Arsenal ‘must win’ the title or Arteta is sacked? They aren’t the only club spending money to improve

Editor F365 21 Jul 2025 7:55 AM

Mikel Arteta looking frustrated on the touchline for Arsenal.

The idea that Mikel Arteta must either win the Premier League title this season or be sacked by Arsenal next summer is flawed for a number of reasons.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

Dither Mersey
A lot of hype around Liverpool’s transfer business, and I can absolutely understand why. Who doesn’t like to see their club go big and go early in the transfer window? However, I’d say the big questions around their success next season are this;

Firstly, they did nothing transfer wise last year. The football was slightly different, but it was still Klopp’s side. Very settled, everyone knew everyone else’s game, plenty of experience of competing for titles, but not an old side whose legs have gone. This summer, at least half the back four, that’s been together for a long time, is changing. That’s significant. Possibly a change in goal too.

Secondly, you don’t pay that money for Wirtz unless he’s central to the plan. Last season was about getting the best out of Salah. How will it look shifting the dynamic and focus of the team around another star man.

Thirdly, Salah and Van Dijk. No one is going to argue they were the most important players last season, and they played every single minute until the title was won. At 33 and 34 respectively, can they do that again? Maybe, but the drop off is coming soon.

Finally, there’s the Jota tragedy. No one has a clue how that’s going to impact the group. It might galvanise in a “do it for Diogo” way, it might break them. None of us have a clue, no one in the club will. It’s a massive variable that’s impossible to predict.

In conclusion, they could romp home again or they could just be battling for top 4. Boldly predicting either outcome is a fool’s errand with all the above in play.
Lewis, Busby Way

Arsenal fan whines about bias
First the minor niggle. F365 seem to be consistently listing the Madueke transfer as 52M where almost every other outlet I have checked lists it as 48.5 up to 52M with addons. That in itself is not a huge issue but for pretty much every other transfer they list it is X + Y in addons. Sometimes in the same article.

It’s almost like F365 are trying to emphasise Arsenal having overpaid because forty some million looks more reasonable than fifty plus. Personally, I think Madueke is a 40M player who could easily be worth 60M+ in a few years. Given his youth and PL experience 48.5M isn’t a bad deal.

(MC – Fair play, we are victims to The Conspiracy on that one; saw it reported somewhere as £52m and used that.)

My second thought is on Partey. I am pretty sure I am biased so I am not going to comment on the morality/legality of the situation, I am also an old fart in the US who avoids social media, so I had no idea it was him until the charges were brought.

One thing that confused me and most (all?) commentators at the time was his new contract negotiations. Arsenal were supposedly offering the same wages and he turned the offer down. He is 32 and a contact with the same wages as he got as a 28 year-old would be snapped up by all but the stupidest of footballers. Add in to that that he also knows that his prospects of a new contract with a different team will diminish if he is charged with the crimes. My theory is that there was a clause in the new contract offer relating to any charges being brought against him, presumably allowing Arsenal to cancel the contract for cause. That might have been why he wouldn’t sign.
Ozzy AFC DC

They must! He has to! And some stuff
For a while now I’ve been reading emails or editorials (Will Ford’s was the latest) that imply that Arteta’s days are numbered if he doesn’t win X, Y or Z. From all the vitriol aimed at Arteta it seems he’s the most hated coach because he thinks his side is better than PSG who went on to win the CL. Or he is in to the ‘dark arts’, meaning time wasting, not attacking, protecting their lead until the final whistle. At least, that’s what I think is meant and not him practicing voodoo and sacrificing chickens before every match.

Let’s start with the ‘They must win’ argument. Why must they? So I did some searching to see if this has any merit.

Club | Prem League Winners | Runners-up
Man U | 20 | 17
Liverpool | 20 | 15
Arsenal | 13 | 12
Man C | 10 | 6
Everton | 9 | 7
Aston Villa | 7 | 10
Sunderland | 6 | 5
Chelsea | 6 | 5

Based on this table there’s a big gap between the top 2 and Arsenal. If the meteoric rise of Man C continues they will overtake Arsenal in this list pretty soon too. Sooo those 13 title wins must have been very recent then? Nope, according to Wiki, their last title win was in the 2003-2004 season. That’s 23 YEARS ago!! Arsenal isn’t even the club that finished runners-up the most.

At best what you could say, looking at the table is that Man U is a fallen giant, Arsenal is a sleeping giant and Liverpool + Man C are the most likely to end up champs. If Guardiola & oil money weren’t a factor I’d not even include them in this category.

I also listed 8 clubs because I was surprised that Chelsea is level with Sunderland with 6 Prem League titles!

If Arsenal don’t have a consistent pattern of winning the league both past or recent, then why are they expected to win? Must be the money then. This one is a bit more tricky because of the amount of money being pumped in to the Premier League from their TV deals. So no history here, just the one from last season from one of the many statistical resources online.

Now what does this table indicate? Not much, I don’t know how much is left after all costs and taxes are deducted. Nor how much goes to the transfer kitty or how much is reserved for additional wages. Chelsea for instance spends money like it’s nothing and is 6th in above table.

What I can say about my club when it comes to finances. I’d like them to get a better return on the sale of players but it is what it is. I am proud of the fact that they don’t let them be bullied in to paying stupid money. I’m sure they will overpay like any other club but most of the times Arsenal tend to be more sensible with their chequebook. The latest saga is with the Goyokeres transfer. I for one won’t mind if this fails. 1 because Gyokeres is on the wrong side of 25. Most strikers aren’t like Lewandowski. And 2, for that money they could gamble on an ‘unknown’ that they have scouted. After all, the Portuguese league is like the Dutch league, scoring silly amounts of goals there? What does it really mean when it comes to the big leagues in Europe? As far as I know, Sporting CP aren’t getting inundated with bids for Viktor are they now?

Then the argument of finishing 2nd three years running means they have to win or Arteta is fired.

Really? Is Arsenal the only club in the Premier League that tries to improve their squad? Do players not get a year older and improve or go backwards? Because of all the money in the premier league it is no easy task of winning the damn thing let alone being 2nd 3 times in a row! And let’s say the board listens to the likes of Stewie, I’ve yet to hear a single name of who would replace Arteta and why he would be better at it. The board sticking with their manager is something I have respect for. This goes for Newcastle as well. I was sure the new owners would fire Eddie Howe and get the flavour of the month in but they didn’t and full credit to them.

Arteta and Howe will have presented a game plan, a vision for their club and the board is backing it. I have nothing but respect for that. You can’t build anything with a revolving door policy that for instance Man U seems to have.

And having mentioned Stewie, no need to ban the troll. Just put his name in the title of every post like I have previously asked and I’ll happily skip to the next letter.

Last point is the mentioned ‘dark arts’ and Arteta saying his Arsenal is better than team X. Should Arteta say the other side was better on the day? He could, he can also back his players 100% and take all criticism on himself instead of it being directed towards his players. I’ll leave it to the reader to figure that one out.

The ‘dark arts’ bit? When Mourinho was doing it he was a tactical genius. When Arteta is doing it, it’s because he’s a voodoo master and/or French.

In closing, all I want is for Arsenal to be in the race again, which they are now. For 3 years running Arsenal is being mentioned as a serious contender for the title. Though last season Salah was in break-out form, fortunately for the rest of us he’s now 33 and quite often at some point after 30 a sharp decline happens in the performances 30+ players.

Like last season, the one before that and the one before that I can’t wait to see what the new season will bring.
Soei, Dutch Arsenal fan.

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Sporting’s Swedish killer
The vibes leaking out about Arsenal not quite buying a striker / killer may leave Mikel Arteta with muscle memory moves like:

1. Go back to his City training days and grab Riyad Mahrez to play as a 9 .
2. Buy a forward Chelsea don’t want any more ( oh wait )
3. Look to his Spanish mates for a canny deal – Alvaro Morata anyone ?
4. Play magic Martin at centre forward .

They probably don’t need a striker anyway .

Has Lacazette got sick of the walking in the 55 celcius sun yet ?
Peter. ( ‘Charlie George Superstar He wears frilly knickers and he wears a bra’) Andalucia

I have admittedly recently criticized mailbox villain (to me) Stewie.

However if Arsenal balls up this Gyokers deal only for Man Utd to swoop in and hijack it, well then please unleash Stewie with my full support as I will not be able to articulate my sentiments as effectively as him.
Hats

Why is a hair pull a straight red?
I watched the first half of France v Germany in the Euros and now, as a man, I am fully prepared to tell the world my opinions on the entire concept of women playing sports. Brace your self….

It always surprises me when I watch the women play how much it looks like football. There was good dogged stuff and some clever play on display. There was even a toe nail offside and a VAR sending off.

As a frequenter of non-league football, it always surprises me sometimes how little football is played.

I have no idea what the sending off was for. Yes she had a sustained pull on her hair but it wasn’t a goal scoring opportunity and it wasn’t violent conduct. It was just a foul. Even a yellow is harsh for me. I’d like to see more of it in the Prem though. This grabbing people by two arms from behind should be a pen.

All the talk of no play acting in the women’s games is probably true until France come to town.

Germany’s captain is called Minge which hilarious until you realise it’s pronounced minger. Then it’s double funny.
Alex, South London

Mailbox Mikel Arteta