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The next seven weeks could make-or-break Mikel Arteta at Arsenal

With the quadruple now nothing more than a distant memory, Arsenal are focused exclusively on winning the Premier League and Champions League this season.

After losing the League Cup final to Manchester City in March, the Gunners were dumped out of the FA Cup by Southampton at the quarter-final stage last weekend.

Despite those disappointing defeats, Mikel Arteta’s side are still rated as the favourites by online bookmakers to end the season with two trophies.

Players on anonymous crypto casino UK platforms may feel that odds of 12/5 to complete the double are not too generous given their failures in other competitions.

However, while popular games such as slots and baccarat are renowned for their unpredictability, shock results in elite-level football are less rare.

Arsenal have a healthy nine-point lead in the Premier League with seven games remaining and are on course to reach the Champions League semi-finals.

Winning both trophies would undoubtedly be the perfect way to end the season. If they come up short, the fallout would be seismic.

With that in mind, read on as we assess how the next seven weeks could ultimately make-or-break Arteta at the Emirates Stadium.

Arteta cannot afford any more slip-ups

Arteta made a flying start to his time as Arsenal manager, guiding them to victory in the 2019/20 FA Cup just six months after replacing Unai Emery.

That success bought the Spaniard time to reshape the club in his own vision. While the rebuild was ongoing, silverware proved to be elusive.

Arteta recently admitted that he has been frustrated by Arsenal’s trophy drought, and their recent defeats in the domestic cups will have added to his angst.

“Obviously, the willingness to win has always been there, and that doesn’t change if I win one, two, three or five [trophies],” Arteta said.

“But, yes, it has been difficult to accept because I want to win every competition that I’m involved in.

“When you have been in this position and gone years without winning a trophy, it adds more necessity, but also more drive because you really want it.

“And that’s something that we have. That is really important for us and something that we’ve been trying to achieve for a while, and now we have the opportunity to do it.

“But you also have to understand in sports that sometimes other players and other teams are better than you.

“What you have to do is to be able to look in the mirror, give absolutely everything, and be better than them. That’s what we are chasing.”

Arteta’s comments paint a picture of a man who understands that there is a much greater weight of expectation on the club this season.

The club has heavily backed him in the transfer market, which effectively removes excuses for failure from the equation.

Improvements have been made, as evidenced by three consecutive second-place finishes in the Premier League. Winning trophies is the next big step.

A nine-point lead should be enough to get over the line in the league. However, Manchester City have a game in hand and still have to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

If City take advantage of those opportunities, the gap could be reduced to just three points, adding a whole new level of pressure to the situation.

The Gunners have one foot in the Champions League semi-finals after winning 1-0 at Sporting CP in midweek, but winning that competition will be even harder.

Atletico Madrid are their most likely opponents in the last-four, and they are no pushovers. Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich will probably be waiting in the final.

Arteta is effectively seven weeks away from establishing himself as a managerial hero at Arsenal. It will be intriguing to see if he can earn that status.

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