Former Arsenal star Jay Bothroyd believes a current Premier League manager boasts all the credentials required to succeed Mikel Arteta.
Saturday’s defeat against West Ham all but ended the Gunners’ latest pursuit of the Premier League title with 11 points now the gap to Liverpool at the top of the table.
An injury crisis that has accounted for the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz means Arsenal’s hopes of the Champions League now look remote and with his side having already been knocked out of both domestic cup competitions the prospect of another season without silverware looks increasingly likely.
Arteta signed a new contract back in September when the outlook was far healthier and although there is no suggestion his job is currently under threat, a section of fans have become increasingly frustrated with a lack of tangible success.
Andoni Iraola, meanwhile, Arteta’s childhood friend, has been working wonders with Bournemouth on the south coast where his free flowing side have been making waves and claiming major scalps over the course of the last 18 months.
Despite Saturday’s shock setback against Wolves, Iraola and his upwardly mobile side remain in with a strong chance of European qualification and Bothroyd believes he would be perfectly suited to the demands of the Arsenal job.
He told the BBC: ‘When it comes to Iraola and the job that he’s done at Bournemouth with the players and no disrespect to them, but Arsenal need something like that because as much as I am not on that level of saying Arteta out, a lot of people are and who is available that could come to Arsenal?
‘Obviously, the one that everyone talks about is Xabi Alonso but it looks like he could go to Real Madrid if Carlo Ancelotti leaves and it is not out of the realms of possibility that if Arteta doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do which is to get trophies then someone like Iraola could be on the hit list for somewhere like Arsenal.’
Arteta’s immediate focus remains on trying to cut Liverpool’s advantage start with tomorrow night when his team face another of this season’s surprise packages Nottingham Forest.
‘It’s been incredibly satisfying to work every day with the players, the coaches and the staff to try to overcome certain situations,’ said Arteta when asked if he was relishing the challenge despite a myriad of problems.
‘If somebody tells you at the start of the season that by this time you will have played five times with a red card, over half an hour in each of them, and you have lost this amount of players, what’s the bet you are in the middle of the table at least, and you are out of the Champions League?
‘But that’s not the situation, so that tells you the resilience, the resources and the ambition the team and that every individual has, and that time has probably been one of my proudest moments to work, in that sense.
‘The problem is when you are there you want more and more. I’m not going to stop – over my dead body that we stop thinking that way and putting everything we possibly can to increase that probability of us winning, being better than the opponent and hitting that performance, those standards constantly, regardless of what happens.’
