Arsenal’s technical director voices support for under pressure Arteta

Arsenal technical director Edu has called on fans to back under pressure manager Mikel Arteta amid growing calls he should be relieved of his duties for their woeful Premier League start.

Arsenal are facing their worst start to a top flight campaign in over four decades. The Gunners are 15th on the log with 13 points and haven’t won in the Premier League since November 1.

Sunday’s home loss to Burnley in front of 2,000 fans further put pressure on the Spaniard but the Arsenal chief has publicly backed Arteta and said the turning around of the situation is in the hands of everyone at the club.

“My main message is that we are not talking about only one person, it is unfair to talk about Mikel, or Aubameyang because he is not scoring goals, or (goalkeeper, Bernd) Leno because he has to stop the goals,” Edu said in an interview with Sky Sports.

“It is unfair to talk about one person, we are a football team, we have to talk about ourselves, talk about “we” and not “him” so that for me is the main message.

“The way I see things is very simple. It’s normal and easy to be driven by the results. But for me, the main point is when I see something in which I can see the future, see where we go, the way we’re building things, starting to see it on a daily basis.

“So the way we work, the way we train, the way we behave internally, if you see the quality of the work, if you see the quality of the people, if you see properly what’s happening here on a daily basis, it’s nothing to compare with the results.”

Despite failing start to the league campaign, the Gunners won all six of their Europa League games and faces Benfica in the round of 32.

Their next league game is against in-form and third placed Southampton where they would hope to turn their season around.

Edu believes it would take time even if the tides would turn around and wants to give Arteta the time and patience.

“If we’re not talking about patience with Mikel it would be very unfair to him. Because what a year we have faced…” he added.

“It would be really unfair to Mikel to say something about that because the year was so challenging for everyone but even more for Mikel, who’d just arrived at the club.

“Because if you have a manager who was at the club for two, three, five years, it makes that situation easier. That’s why Mikel needs always, from my side, good words.”