'I will tell you what will happen' - Danny Murphy and Jim White in heated debate over Arsenal sacking Mikel Arteta
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(Credit: Imago, talkSPORT)
Oliver Walton
Mon 22 September 2025 16:15, UK
Danny Murphy has delivered an impassioned defence of Mikel Arteta in a heated debate live on radio after Arsenal failed to beat Man City.
Arsenal fell short for the third season in a row last time out, as Liverpool won the title while they came second, akin to their finishes behind Manchester City in the two years previous.
Mikel Arteta’s one major trophy as boss of the North London outfit came back in 2020, as the Gunners won FA Cup against Chelsea, but he has struggled to take his side to glory in the years that have followed.
Arsenal drew 1-1 with title-rivals Man City on Sunday (21 September) as Gabriel Martinelli saved the day with a late strike to cancel out Erling Haaland‘s early opener at the Emirates Stadium.
Arteta was criticised by Arsenal fans online for dropping Eberechi Eze and keeping a defence-focused midfield three of Mikel Merino, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi, with many insisting after the game that he may not be the right man to lead them to the Premier League title soon.
Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media
Instead of starting him, Arteta chose to bring Eze on at half-time against the Citizens, and he proved his quality with a moment of magic to assist Martinelli late on when it looked as if Arsenal were set to slip to a crushing defeat.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher commented after the game that Arteta picked a team that insinuated “he was thinking more about the opposition,” while Gary Neville insisted that Arsenal are a “one-trick pony” and the Spaniard needs to “take the handbrake off.”
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One Gunners fan called into talkSPORT on Monday (22 September) stating that they want Arteta sacked because of his lack of decisiveness, but former footballer and current pundit Danny Murphy leapt to his defence and gave his opinion on the issues that the club would face if he left.
He said: “The problem is this, if an Arsenal fan comes on and says ‘Arteta can’t get us over the line,’ right, fine.
Who can do that?
Murphy ferociously continued while host Jim White tried to move on, saying: “I tell you what will happen, Jim, their wish might come true, and what will happen is they will become more open and more easy to play against, and then all of a sudden its ‘ooh, we’ve lost our defensive stability and our power, we’re all over the place.'”
Prior to the start of this season, no team had picked up more points in the Premier League over the last three campaigns than Arsenal, despite them missing out on the title to both Man City and Liverpool in that time.
It is clear that they have been consistently brilliant over recent years, but they have come unstuck in the big, trophy-deciding moments, and Sunday’s clash was another clear example of that in practice as Man City trolled Arteta on social media just to rub salt into the wounds.
Games managedWinsDrawsLossesPoints-per-game29517651681.96Arteta’s managerial record in charge of Arsenal
The Athletic claimed over the summer that any pressure on Arteta was external, either from the media or himself, and he was under no risk of losing his job ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
That obviously proved to be the case, but they are now already five points behind Liverpool after just five games of the new season, and Arteta could well find himself out of a job soon if his side are unable to properly compete for any form of silverware this term.