Mikel Arteta says he’s ‘lucky to still be Arsenal boss’ after tough few years and treats ‘every day like it’s the last’
MIKEL ARTETA has admitted he might be “lucky” to still be in the Arsenal job.
The Gunners boss has taken the club to the top of the table and within reach of the Premier League title.
But this stunning season comes after mediocre league campaigns under the Spanish boss which yielded only an eighth-place and fifth-place finish in his two full seasons in charge.
Fans had become deeply divided over the 40-year-old coach with FA Cup success at the end of his first season doing little to quell the frustrations of Arsenal fans.
Arteta has admitted that his previous seasons could have got him the sack.
Asked by ESPN if he would have lasted in the job without the FA Cup win, Arteta said: “I don’t know. Looking back, obviously a lot of things have happened.
“To start your managerial career with no experience at any level and face straight away that success and then having two years of COVID, with all the challenges that we have internally at the club, externally at the club, probably I am lucky to be sitting here today looking back with how it could have developed.
“I have always been fascinated with the journey and living every single day like it is the last and I think you have to take this job especially like this because every day there are lessons, there are challenges.
“In one month, it will be different and in two years’ time maybe they need something else but it is about today.”
Arteta came under the most pressure as Arsenal boss at the beginning of last season when they lost their opening three league games.
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But the Gunners recovered and mounted a serious challenge on the top four places.
But the campaign would end in the same dreadful way as the club lost six of their last 12 to be pipped to fourth by rivals Tottenham, once again heaping pressure on Arteta’s position.