Arteta under huge pressure to beat Norwich and turn Arsenal’s season around

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Mikel Arteta is under huge pressure to beat Norwich City next weekend and get Arsenal’s season back on track.

The Gunners have endured their worst start to a league campaign in over 60 years as we sit bottom of the Premier League with no points to show from our first three league matches.

A 2-0 defeat to Brentford on the opening weekend set the tone as we were woeful against the newly-promoted side and deserved to lose – even if the second goal should have been ruled out for a foul on Bernd Leno.

Chelsea eased their way to a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium the following weekend and we were no match for the European Champions. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City then thrashed Arsenal 5-0 at the Etihad to make it no points and no goals from the first three matches.

Arsenal are the 1/2 odds on favourites in the Sports betting markets to beat Norwich next weekend so it’s clear we should be getting our first three point of the season on the board. However, given our form so far, few would be surprised if we fail to beat the Canaries.

Arsenal did manage to batter West Brom 6-0 in the League Cup last month but Arteta is under enormous pressure to get our Premier League campaign up and running. Anything other than a win against Norwich next weekend and there will be growing calls from the fans for Arteta to be sacked.

Last chance saloon

Many supporters wanted the Spaniard to be relieved of his duties at the end of last season after Arsenal finished eighth for the second consecutive season. Some fans will never forgive Arteta for the shocking defeat to Villarreal in the Europa League semi final as we were woeful during both legs.

The poor start to the new season has only reinforced the belief that Arteta is out of his depth and failure to beat Norwich at home next weekend could be the final straw.

Arteta has been given time to get things right and he got an easy ride last season considering how poor we were for much of the campaign but the lack of progress is clear for all to see.

Rebuild

While many fans want a change of manager, there are signs the board are still fully behind Arteta as the former midfielder was backed heavily by the club during the summer. Arsenal have just overseen one of the busiest transfer windows in recent history with over £140m spent on six new signings.

Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Albert Lokonga, Nuno Tavares, Martin Odegaard and Takehiro Tomiyasu are all young, long-term additions to the squad who were specifically identified by Arteta to fit in with his system, so it does appear the board are backing their man to get it right.

Time will tell whether those six players were good signings but one thing that’s certain; Arteta is going to have to pick up all three points against Norwich or we’ll see growing calls for him to be sacked.

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