Mikel Arteta sends warning to under-fire Graham Potter: “At the end of the day”
The Arsenal manager is currently riding high at the top of the Premier League and can take his team five points ahead on Wednesday, but he is well aware of the pressure that comes with the job.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has shown sympathy for Chelsea colleague Graham Potter, who has come under fire at Stamford Bridge.
Potter oversaw Chelsea’s 10th defeat in the last 17 matches when the Blues were defeated 2-0 against Tottenham on Sunday, prompting a petition demanding for his dismissal in the aftermath of the game.
Since Sunday night, around 45,000 people have signed a petition to remove Potter from his position, but while the Chelsea hierarchy would take little notice of that, there are no plans to fire the former Brighton manager in the near future.
At his post-match press conference at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Potter referenced Arteta and Jurgen Klopp as examples of managers who needed time to implement their ideas.
“We were talking about watching All or Nothing and Arsenal before the game, and two years into Mikel’s rule, he’s on the verge of being fired, and people want him out, and it’s a disaster. And now, things have shifted slightly – and that’s simply the way it is “He stated.
“If you look at Jurgen’s situation – they haven’t got results and all of a sudden people want him out, that’s just the nature of football.
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Obviously, I haven’t done enough at this club to warrant too much trust, and I accept that.”
Arteta believes he understands what Potter is going through ahead of Wednesday night’s game against Everton, where a win would put Arsenal five points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
“Absolutely, we are colleagues and we all know the pressure and the demands and the uncertainty that this industry has,” he said.
“At the end of the day, the ball has to go into that net, and there are many factors that can prevent that that are out of your control, so I fully empathise because you suffer and you know how it is when you are going through those moments.”
Before to the Tottenham game, Potter admitted that ugly death threats had been made against both himself and his children during Chelsea’s dismal run of form, acknowledging that the scrutiny had been difficult to bear.
Arteta expresses sympathy for the Englishman once more, but refuses to acknowledge whether he has ever been on the receiving end of something similar.
“You might have difficulties and challenges in your profession, which we do especially when you lose, but also when you win because this job is so demanding,” he remarked.
“Your family, your friends, your loved ones and the people around you don’t deserve to have their lives affected in a negative way because you didn’t win a football match, so that balance in my case was critical, but you need some help.
“If someone paints that picture in front of you because sometimes when you are in that position, it is not easy to see.”
