ionigeria.com Nigerian Newspaper (Online)
Arsenal face a battle to finish in the European places on current domestic form and winning the Europa League outright may well be their best bet to stay in the competition next season
Mikel Arteta has been warned he could face the sack if he does not win the Europa League with Arsenal this season.
A big opportunity has opened up in front of them though, to qualify for the competition again by winning it outright, providing they can navigate their way to the trophy.
And former Tottenham striker Darren Bent feels that is the only outcome that could save Arteta if his side does not achieve a place in Europe through their league form.
“When Arsenal were looking for a manager there were two people up for grabs: Arteta and [Carlo] Ancelotti,” Bent told talkSPORT . “I thought Ancelotti should have been the one to go to Arsenal and Arteta to go to Everton.
“The early signs were really good in terms of look how quickly he [Arteta] picked up a trophy. Yes, this season has been really inconsistent but I don’t want Arsenal to turn into a club where they keep sacking managers – at some stage you’ve got to give someone a little bit of time.
Despite a disappointing draw in the first leg against Slavia Prague, Arsenal are still favourites to progress to the semi-finals when the two sides meet again on Thursday.
“We go back to what we used to say when those teams were in a position not to qualify for Europe we are talking about similar things.
“It is true there are some really good examples of teams that were rebuilding their teams and it helped them in their project, but I would rather be in Europe.”
