Alan Shearer thinks Mikel Arteta could leave Arsenal if the Gunners fail to win the Premier League this season.
Arsenal remain five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, but Wednesday’s draw against bottom club Wolves has left the title in the Cityzens’ hands.
If Pep Guardiola’s side win all of their remaining games, including against Arsenal at home, they will be champions.
It does feel like the pendulum has swung massively in City’s favour, with the Gunners seventh in the Premier League form table, with only two wins from their last six.
Supporters are fearing a fourth successive second-place finish and the pressure of beating City to a first league title since 2004 seems to be getting to the players and Arteta.
READ MORE: Arsenal and Arteta are bottling the Premier League title again after pathetic draw with Wolves
Newcastle United legend Shearer is still backing Arsenal to win the title, as he previously predicted them to experience a couple of bumps along the way, but he does think missing out could spell the end of Arteta’s six-and-a-half-year stint in charge.
On The Rest Is Football podcast, Shearer said: “They’ll probably still win it, just. I think if you need a game after what has happened then it is not a bad one to have in your local rivals.
“I know they have a new manager and it is away, but what a response it would be to go and win at Tottenham at the weekend.
“I never expected Arsenal to do it the easy way, I always knew there were going to be bumps and everything else, nervy times.
“People are going to be chucking questions and bombs and you have to get over that. I did expect this to happen. Let’s see what they are made of.”
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Shearer added that Arsenal simply “have to win” the Premier League title.
He said: “If he doesn’t win the league he might not be at Arsenal. After the chances they have had to win it and finishing second, with what they have spent on the players they have got and the positions they are in, they have to win it.
“Mentally maybe it [the Champions League] would be an easier barrier to get over to win that rather than the Premier League because of what has happened to them in the Premier League.”
Micah Richards added: “You have got a manager who wants to protect [Arteta] and a manager who wants to win [Guardiola]. That is going to be what it will be until the end of the season. Who is going to outdo each other in their tactics?
“When Arteta first started at Arsenal, the football he played was sensational, the passing, the speed from back to front. There is nothing wrong with being a Mourinho up against Pep.
“This notion you have to play this amazing football — Pep is the best at doing that, so you have to adapt. Arteta has had to adapt his football to get results, the problem is if he doesn’t win the league at the end of it he will be judged for the football he plays.
“He has to get over the line for his own sake.”
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