Arsenal's Direction After 200 Games with Arteta

For Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, the duel against Manchester United felt highly dilemmatic. He was pleased to have reached 200 matches in the English Premier League with Arsenal. On the other hand, Arteta was disappointed because the draw ended "The Gunners'" chances of winning the championship this season. This means he has not yet been able to win the league after five full seasons.

The achievement of 200 matches is considered extraordinary. Arteta has managed to endure for such a long time in his first job as a manager despite pressure from many sides. Not many managers can last that long in the English Premier League. Furthermore, he became the second youngest manager, after Roberto Martinez, to achieve this milestone (42 years and 348 days).

That special day did not end very sweetly. Arsenal was held to a 1-1 draw by MU at Old Trafford Stadium on Monday (10/3/2025) early morning WIB. As a result, they are 15 points behind league leaders Liverpool with nine weeks remaining. Arsenal's point tally is closer to 10th-placed Fulham than to Liverpool.

Arteta was still very confident a few weeks ago when asked about the chances of winning the championship. That feeling gradually faded after his team failed to secure victory in three consecutive matches. A similar question arose during a brief interview after the game. "Thank you," he replied, while walking away from the camera's spotlight.

If we set aside the context of championships, Arteta is actually one of the best in the history of the league. Just look at Arteta's win record, which ranks fifth (118 wins/59 percent) on the list of managers with 200 matches. In fact, he is better than his mentor, Arsene Wenger (110 wins/55 percent).

The problem lies in the saying, "only champions will be remembered in history." All managers who have achieved the best winning records alongside Arteta, from Josep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, to Wenger, have already won league titles. This raises a significant question for the Spanish man.

"Did he do good things at Arsenal? Yes. Did he make Arsenal progress? Yes. Without a doubt, Arsenal is much better than before Arteta arrived. However, will Arteta lead Arsenal to win the league? I haven't seen that yet. They are only contenders so far," said John Obi Mikel, a two-time English Premier League champion, in his podcast.

So why hasn't Arteta been sacked after failing to lift the league trophy since joining in the middle of the 2019-2020 season? Compare that to rival team MU, who also failed to win the league. MU has changed three managers since Arteta's regime at Arsenal. Arteta's "seat" is still very safe at the moment.

The answer is stability and progress. Arsenal have been able to consistently stay at the top. Compare that to the ranking of the "Cannons" in the five seasons before Arteta's arrival (3, 2, 5, 6, 5) and after (8, 8, 5, 2, and 2). If the current standings hold until the end of the season, Arsenal will finish in second place again.

There is progress from season to season. Just look at the 2022-2023 season, Martin Odegaard and his colleagues finished with 84 points, 5 points behind the champion team Manchester City. The following season, they won 89 points and only lost 2 points to City who won again. The progress to become champions is clear.

That progress has stalled this season. Arsenal can only reach a maximum of 85 points, if they can sweep the remaining ten games. Although they still have the potential to be runners-up, many believe that the peak of Arteta's regime has passed. One of those who doubts Arteta is Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher.

Numbers without context are like people walking in a dark tunnel. There is a logical explanation behind Arsenal's decline in results this season. It was all caused by a storm of injuries that occurred since the beginning of the season. They lost Odegaard for two months, followed by four main attackers in the busy period of January - March.

Bukayo Saka, the team's main striker, has not played since December 21, 2024. In fact, he recorded the most goals for Arsenal in the league (5 goals and 10 assists). The crisis in the front line was so bad that midfielder Mikel Merino was made an emergency striker in the last five matches.

Arsenal's legendary defender Martin Keown has normalized this season's dip in form as being in an emergency situation. Arteta has been unlucky to lose so many key players at the same time. "If four strikers are injured, it would be a big blow to any team," he told TalkSport.

Although the title seems unlikely to come to the Emirates Stadium, Arteta continues to show progress from other sides. One of them is the orbit of academy players who were almost nil in previous seasons. Two academy teenagers, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, are slowly being recognized as potential future stars.

Arteta, when he first returned to the Emirates Stadium, had a blueprint to bring the team back to glory. He emphasized that there are five phases that must be passed to achieve this. The phase begins with overhauling the squad according to strategic needs until finally becoming champions.

“Phase 4 to 5,” Arteta said of Arsenal’s position in his plans. “(That phase is) being able to be at the highest level, in the Champions League, and performing consistently with a united front. We are very close to winning big trophies,” the former Arsenal captain told Sky Sports.

Like climbing a mountain, reaching the summit is the biggest challenge. A myriad of questions are directed at Arteta. How to reach the final phase? What breakthroughs need to be made next summer? What can be improved from this season?

There are many things that Arsenal must evaluate. One of the most important is recruitment. The team management is also responsible for the striker crisis. They did not buy a new striker in the summer, also in the winter after Saka and Jesus were confirmed to be long-term injured.

Arsenal borrowed veteran winger Raheem Sterling from Chelsea in the summer. However, Sterling did not provide any added value in North London. He mostly sat on the bench. Even when Arsenal only had two senior strikers in the squad, Sterling was still not played.

Of course, the problem cannot be answered by Arteta alone. The role of the club's top brass will be very important to rise to the top phase. The club has started moving towards next season by recruiting a new sporting director to replace Edu Gaspar. Andrea Berta, who was successful with Atletico Madrid, is rumored to be a new duet for Arteta.

The summer is crucial for the Gunners. They need a world-class centre-forward who they have been waiting for for years, a holding midfielder to replace the departing Thomas Partey and Jorginho, and a creative player in attack who can make the difference when the team is stuck.

So far, from the last six years, Arteta still looks like the most appropriate person to fill the Arsenal manager's chair. However, it will be difficult to end the league title drought since 2003-2004 if there is no big breakthrough from the club during the break of the season. Time is no longer friendly to Arteta.