Arsenal: Gary Neville’s Mikel Arteta comments anger fans

Gary Neville has angered some Arsenal fans by suggesting Mikel Arteta could walk away from the Gunners this summer if he secures a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Arteta, who has been in charge at the Emirates Stadium since December 2019 after replacing Unai Emery, has improved Arsenal’s fortunes in recent months.

The Spaniard has been under pressure at times during his tenure as Arsenal head coach but his side have won 10 of their last 13 league fixtures and currently sit above Tottenham and Manchester United in the league table.

With the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe, Arteta has assembled a talented group of players who are consistently producing the goods week-in, week-out.

It’s been a while since Arsenal fans were so optimistic about their team’s prospects but Neville threw a spanner in the works during the latest episode of The Overlap Live by suggesting Arteta won’t be able to do better than lead Arsenal to a fourth-place finish.

“I really like Mikel Arteta, I think he’s a brilliant coach. I think the team is fantastic in terms of the young players they’ve got,” Neville told an audience of fans alongside Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane, per The Metro.

“But it’s interesting when you’re in a cycle of a club and you depress the ambition and have a significant period of failure because you then get really happy about finishing fourth.

“I found myself saying that about Manchester United. But it’s because of a depressed ambition.

“I think Mikel Arteta is a good operator. My concern is if Arsenal finish fourth this season – which to be fair, I think is 50/50, I still think there’s a long way to in that race – but if they finish fourth, that’s in some ways as good as it