Former Liverpool and Manchester United striker Michael Owen believes Arsenal fans would be “foolish” to think that Mikel Arteta is “under pressure” to win the Premier League title this season.
Speaking to The Metro, Owen said that Spaniard’s job should not come under threat even if the Gunners get off to a slow start:
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“I think it’s foolish for fans to think the manager is under pressure just because they’ve come second three years in a row. Arsenal have shown consistency. They’ve consistently been good and had reasons to believe they were unlucky not to get more points.”
“I mean, Bukayo Saka was injured for a large part of last season, Kai Havertz was too. They’re probably their two main attacking players. Other key players were out as well, so I think they had a lot of injuries to attacking players that you would say were harsh, and now they’ve gone and bought a proven goalscorer. It’s not a guarantee he’ll succeed, but there are reasons to believe Arsenal can do better than last season. They’re already doing well; they got to the semi-finals of the Champions League. They’re a serious team.”
“People talk about Arteta, if he has a bad start to the season, because they’ve got a tough start to the season, looking at their fixtures, but even if they had a tricky start to the season, you would be absolutely mad to think he’s not the right man. He’s knocking on the door, and the door’s going to bang open soon. Whether it’s this season or not remains to be seen.”
Owen has predicted where Arsenal will finish
The ex-England international fully expects the Gunners to end the campaign in 2nd once again. Fans would be incredibly frustrated if their team finish in that position for the fourth season in a row.
Owen gives Liverpool a “70% chance” of retaining the title, despite the Reds making some major changes to their squad during the summer transfer window.
He believes that Chelsea will finish third, despite questioning whether Enzo Maresca would still be in charge if he had failed to qualify for the Champions League. Somewhat surprisingly, he has chosen Manchester City to round out the top 4.
Despite spending sizeable amounts on new players, Owen thinks Pep Guardiola’s men could end up one position lower than they did last campaign.
Read more about the Arsenal First Team Squad for 2025/26 here