Former England star Stuart Pearce has revealed whether he would keep Mikel Arteta in charge at Arsenal, while also labelling two Gunners stars ‘the best youngsters in European football’.
Arsenal endured another frustrating end to the season as they finished second in the Premier League for the third year running. Arteta’s side had been rivalling Liverpool for the title for large parts of the season but ended up closer to Manchester City in third.
Arteta is under pressure to deliver silverware at the Emirates as Arsenal still have not added any major honours to their 2020 FA Cup triumph.
Arsenal were knocked out of the League Cup in the semi-finals by eventual winners Newcastle United. They also made it through to the last four of the Champions League after pulling off a statement win over Real Madrid, only to lose to Paris Saint-Germain.
While Arsenal are fully behind Arteta and believe the team will succeed under him next term, some have suggested a new manager should be brought in.
During an appearance on David Seaman’s Seaman Says podcast, Pearce was asked if Arsenal have ‘gone backwards’ since last season.
He defended the Gunners and Arteta by responding: “I think it’s a little bit difficult this year when you compare to last year, because this year you’ve had three teams that have been relegated and hardly got any points, but you’ve had a mid-band of teams that have been even stronger.
“Fulham have been strong, Brentford have been strong, Forest have come strong again, Brighton and Crystal Palace too. So they’re getting points off the teams above them.
“You’ve got the likes of West Ham and Tottenham that can win any game on any given day, and Manchester United did that to Arsenal in the FA Cup. So you’ve got teams right at the bottom of the league, not in the relegation places, that can all pick points up.
“That probably is directly reflective of the lack of points Arsenal have picked up this year. I probably look at it from a coach or manager’s viewpoint and say, is there an upward trend at Arsenal? Are they a very stable club in what they’re trying to achieve?
“And the answer is yes. I think to myself that they’re permanently in the Champions League places, no doubt about that.
“They’ve probably been permanently one or two players away from really going to that next level. So I would stick with the manager. He’s a consistent manager who is growing and growing.”
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Saka, Lewis-Skelly lauded
When asked about Arsenal’s failure to land a new striker, Pearce hailed the club’s academy setup, with special praise reserved for exciting duo Bukayo Saka and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
“I’ve found this before, people think it’s easy to go out and buy a centre-forward that can get you 25 goals a year,” he added.
“It’s the hardest thing in the world to do. Then the trouble is the likes of Chris Wood turns up, all of a sudden gets 20 goals a season – “well why didn’t we sign Chris Wood then?” It’s just ridiculous, but that’s football.
“We talk about Arsenal bringing players in and recruitment, they’ve got the best two youngsters in European football in Saka and Lewis-Skelly that they brought through the academy system. So that’s a real plus for Arsenal as well.”
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