Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta could be sacked by the Gunners if he fails to win a trophy this season, with the club reportedly identifying an ideal heir who has drawn comparisons to Arsène Wenger.
Arsenal under pressure as Man City close title race gap
24 hours changed everything at the top of the Premier League.
Arsenal went into the weekend nine points clear. By Sunday evening, the picture looked considerably different.
Mikel-Arteta-Arsenal-Bournemouth
Saturday's 2-1 defeat at home to Bournemouth — the opportunity to move 12 points clear squandered — was bad enough. Man City's emphatic 3-0 victory at Chelsea the following afternoon made it worse.
The gap between first and second is now six points, with City holding a game in hand, and the two sides meet at the Etihad next Sunday in what could prove the defining fixture of the season.
Arsenal's last six Premier League games in title charge Date
Man City (away) April 19
Newcastle (home) April 25
Fulham (home) May 2
West Ham (away) May 10
Burnley (home) May 17
Crystal Palace (away) May 24
Arsenal face Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Wednesday first, defending a 1-0 lead, before heading to Manchester knowing that a City victory would leave the title race in genuine jeopardy.
Arteta's side lost the Carabao Cup final against City, lost the FA Cup quarter-final to Southampton and now this.
Four competitions have been reduced to two in the space of barely three weeks, and in both of those remaining, the margin for error is shrinking rapidly.
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The Gunners were outplayed by Andoni Iraola's side.
Reports from Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo are adding fuel to a growing conversation about Arteta's future, even if Fabrizio Romano says that there is still trust between Arsenal and the Spaniard.
The publication claims that Arsenal's hierarchy have drawn up contingency plans and have identified a candidate they view as Arteta's "ideal" successor, should the season conclude without a trophy yet again.
Arsenal line up Cesc Fàbregas to replace Mikel Arteta on one condition
That candidate is Cesc Fàbregas.
Cesc-Fabregas-Como
The 38-year-old has been in charge at Como since 2024, guiding the newly promoted Serie A club through two seasons and pushing them into European contention — a significant achievement for a side that returned to the top division after a lengthy absence.
Fabregas is contracted at Como until 2028, but reports suggest he could be open to a return to the Premier League if the right opportunity emerged.
Arsenal, his former club, would represent exactly that.
He played for the Gunners between 2003 and 2011, making over 300 appearances and establishing himself as one of the most gifted Spanish players of his generation before moving to Barcelona.
The connection between Fabregas and Arsenal runs deeper than history alone.
Fabregas-Arsenal-Barcelona
He holds a stake in Como as a part-shareholder, a level of personal and financial investment that European football journalist Andy Brassell used to draw a comparison with Wenger.
"Fabregas has got a part in that, and he's got, when I was making the Arsene Wenger comparison, not like for like in every sense, but in the sense that he's fully invested and financially invested in the club as a part shareholder as well," Brassell told talkSPORT.
"It makes him closer to an old-fashioned manager than just a head coach, a little bit like Arsène Wenger, as we were talking about before."
For now Arteta remains firmly in charge, with Arsenal still leading the title race and still alive in Europe.
But the next seven days will go a long way to determining whether those reports about succession planning remain theoretical, or whether the pressure becomes something more concrete.
It is also worth noting that Fabregas was sensationally linked with a move to Tottenham before they hired Roberto De Zerbi.
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Mikel Arteta is under big pressure at Arsenal right now.