Arsenal have gone from strength to strength under Mikel Arteta since he took the reins at the Emirates Stadium back in 2019.

At the time, the Gunners hadn’t been a Premier League top-four side for a couple years. Indeed, they were 10th in the league at the time.

Arteta set about moulding the Arsenal team in his image and to his high standards. It took a while, but last season, things finally clicked.

The Gunners pushed Manchester City far in the Premier League title race, and this season, they have taken them all the way to the final day.

However, Arsenal’s title fate is out of their hands at present. Even if they beat Everton on Sunday, they must hope that the Citizens fail to beat West Ham.

With that in mind, BBC Sport pundit Nigel Reo-Coker has expressed a concern about Arteta for next season.

What has Nigel Reo-Coker said about Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta?

Reo-Coker, speaking on BBC 5 Live (17/5/2024, 7:31pm), says he’s worrying about whether Arteta has the managerial skills to motivate the Arsenal squad if they don’t win the title this term.

“The one thing that worries me, I think about the emotional journey for the past two seasons,” said Reo-Coker.

“They lost to Manchester City last season. They are probably going to lose the league title again to Manchester City.

“The emotional journey of going through the entire Premier League season, taking it to the last day, does Mikel Arteta have that managerial skill to be able to motivate those players again next year to want to compete? That’s my worry.”

Arsenal should be fine under Mikel Arteta for next season – opinion

The thing about Arsenal is, this season isn’t a flash-in-the-pan title challenge. The Gunners challenged last term and they’ve come even closer this year.

Indeed, it seems a bit premature to effectively be writing Arsenal off for the title this season. After all, a Gunners win and a City draw would be enough, and that’s not exactly asking for the moon.

However, should Arsenal fail to win the title this year, then Arteta will surely tell his players that they’ve come even closer this time. With another two transfer windows to get it right and more coaching and experience for the players, they could well do it.

After all, Liverpool didn’t get it right the first time in the Champions League final, but won it in 2019. That year, they finished second in the league with 97 points. That would’ve been especially crushing, but they went on to win it the following year.

Besides, Arteta has done his best to assemble a team that not only boasts the required quality on the pitch, but also the right attitude. The Arsenal squad will no doubt be raring to go once again, and again and again.