Arsenal trail Liverpool in the race for the Premier League title, but former Gunner Bacary Sagna is confident he can bring success to the Emirates
Bacary Sagna has insisted Mikel Arteta is still the right man to end Arsenal’s long wait to be English champions again.
Arteta has come in for some stick in recent weeks following his side’s stumble in the title race, but back-to-back wins against Crystal Palace and Ipswich has boosted their hopes. Having been Manchester City’s closest challengers in the last two seasons before coming up short, the pressure is mounting on Arteta to go on and finally deliver the biggest prize in the domestic game.
Arsenal travel to Brentford knowing there can be few more slip ups, if another season is not to go by without them having regained their place at the summit of English football. Two decades have passed since Arsenal last won the title.
While Arteta has just one FA Cup triumph to show for his time as boss. despite marking his fifth anniversary in charge this week, Yet Sagna, who made 284 appearances for Arsenal between 2007 and 2014, has told the critics to give Arteta a break. The former French international told Paddy Power he believes Arteta is still doing an amazing job – and that he deserves more appreciation.
Sagna said: “We’ll never judge a manager by the results and performances over the last two weeks, no matter who it is. We have to see the full picture, and if you take that, Mikel Arteta has been doing an amazing job at Arsenal.
“People were expecting Arsenal to win every game, but in life you have expectation and reality, and everyone is competing and are playing well. It’s still clear how great of a job Mikel Arteta has done at Arsenal, from where they were when he joined to now.
“At the time, the club were in a rebuilding position, but they have brought in some great players and the football they are playing is much better.”
Despite praising Arteta, Sagna does admit Arsenal have a problem when it comes to killing teams off.
But he has urged supporters to be more patient and he said: “Tactically and from a quality point of view, Arsenal have the ability of beating anyone. But they have opponents who are going up against them and are doing everything they can to stop Arsenal’s momentum and to win the game.
“In matches when teams try to make it hard for them, if they can get a goal early, then it forces their opponents out more which will create more chances for Arsenal. They managed to do this in most games last season, so this season, as they are doing it less often, questions will be raised asking why they aren’t being more clinical.
“It’s annoying for the players and the fans that this keeps happening, but it doesn’t worry me.”
Bacary Sagna was speaking on behalf of Paddy Power.