Former Liverpool defender and English football analyst Jamie Carragher says that Arsenal could start looking for a new manager if Mikel Arteta doesn’t win “something big” next season.

After consecutive second-place finishes in the Premier League to Man City, Many pundits backed Arsenal to win this season. However, the Gunners came up short again under head coach Mikel Arteta, with Liverpool lifting the crown this season.

Arteta also led the Gunners to their first UCL semi-final in 16 years, where they crashed out and lost both legs to Luis Enrique’s PSG side 3–1 on aggregate. This means that Arsenal have gone five consecutive seasons without any major trophy. The only significant honour to date was the 2020 FA Cup. Under Arteta, Arsenal also have a pair of Community Shields won in 2020 and 2023.

After Arsenal’s 2–2 draw against Liverpool on Sunday, Carragher reflected on Arteta’s trophy-less season. Carragher tells Sky Sports, “This season felt like it should have been their season.” He also added that there will be massive pressure on Arteta regarding winning ‘Something and winning something big.

Jamie Carragher praised Arteta and said that he believes that he has done a tremendous job at Arsenal in the last six years, stating “The Arsenal board, if they don’t [win a major trophy], will have a massive issue because they won’t want to change their manager, but there will be that many people saying: five or six years without a trophy”

He explained that changing managers can be very problematic for Arsenal at this point because, in the span of one season, “Arsenal could easily become what Chelsea are right now.” This means going from 2nd place every year to a team that doesn’t qualify for the Champions League.

“That’s the big conundrum that Arsenal as a football club will have in 12 months, if Arsenal go close again, don’t actually get across the line.”

Carragher also says that Mikel Arteta has sounded “like a fan” with his comments in recent weeks. “Mikel Arteta in the last couple of weeks is saying things and he’s getting emotional. And at times, he’s sounding like a little bit of a fan, not so much the manager.”