Does Mikel Arteta deserve a new Arsenal contract?
Stefan Bienkowski
- Updated: 22 Feb 2022 21:59 GMT
- 5 min read
Arsenal are four points off fourth place in the Premier League table but crucially have three games in hand on their rivals, Manchester United.
As such, there’s a feel-good sense around the London club at the moment as Mikel Arteta finally begins to convince fans that his side are on the right track.
In fact, Arsenal seem so content with their manager that according to the Sun the club are set to offer the Spaniard a new contract, to replace the one that is set to expire in 2023.
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But before the club settle in with their manager for the long haul, what do the stats say about Arsenal’s form under Arteta and are this team actually going in the right direction?
Have Arsenal improved under Arteta?
Although Arsenal fans can certainly point to the club’s FA Cup win in 2020 as clear proof that things are going in the right direction, it’s a little harder to plot such a course in their league form under Arteta.
The Spaniard is seemingly improving with every passing year. Last season Arsenal managed just 1.61 points per game in Arteta’s first full league game campaign at the club and this time around they’re doing even better with an average of 1.91.
However, as impressive as that average is, it’s still only equal to what Unai Emery managed in 2018/19, when his own Arsenal side finished fifth. And he was then sacked six months after achieving that much.
Indeed, what is perhaps a little discouraging for fans of the club is that neither manager has managed to match the 1.97 points per game Arsene Wenger’s side averaged in his penultimate league campaign with the club.
So are Arsenal improving under Arteta? Possibly. They’re certainly going upwards, but whether they’ll ever be any better than they were under Emery is hard to tell. And they’re still someway of what Wenger achieved even in his so-called less successful years at the club.
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