Gary Neville’s old comments about Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have just been proven completely wrong

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Mikel Arteta has proven many of his doubters wrong during his time at Arsenal as he continues to fight for the Premier League title.

Just two seasons ago, many Arsenal supporters even questioned whether or not Mikel Arteta was the right man to take the club forward.

The Gunners lost their opening three league games in the 2021-22 campaign and Arteta was under increased pressure at the time.

Of course, Arsenal went on to enjoy a promising season, despite throwing away a top-four finish to their bitter rivals Tottenham.

And even before Arsenal were pipped to fourth-place by Antonio Conte’s Spurs, Gary Neville questioned whether Arteta had taken his side as far as he possibly could.

Neville proven completely wrong by Arteta and Arsenal

Speaking on The Overlap back in April 2022, Neville claimed that finishing fourth would be ‘as good as it gets’ for Arteta at Arsenal.

“I really like Mikel Arteta,” he said. “I think he’s a brilliant coach. I think the team is fantastic in terms of the young players they’ve got.

“But it’s interesting when you’re in a cycle of a club and you depress the ambition and have a significant period of failure because you then get really happy about finishing fourth.

“I found myself saying that about Manchester United, but it’s because of a depressed ambition.

“I think Mikel Arteta is a good operator. My concern is if Arsenal finish fourth this season – which, to be fair, I think is 50/50, I still think there’s a long way to go in that race – but if they finish fourth, that’s in some ways as good as it gets.

“You’ve got Pep [Guardiola], [Jurgen] Klopp, Man United, Chelsea – where can Arsenal go? They’re not going to compete.

“Mikel Arteta is a brilliant coach. I love that we’re seeing a team that he’s getting the maximum out of – I can see exactly how he wants to play, we all can.

“But he gets to fourth [and] if he was really hard about it, he’d probably say ‘right, that’s the best I can do there, I’m going now and getting my next job’.”

Even though Arsenal are yet to add to the FA Cup victory under Arteta in 2020, it’s fair to say that Neville has been proven completely wrong.

The Gunners finished second in the Premier League last season after narrowly missing out on the title to Manchester City.

They remain firmly in the hunt for that elusive title this term too. After last night’s 6-0 win at Sheffield United, Arsenal are just two points behind leaguer leaders Liverpool.

Even if the north Londoners do fall short once again this season, Arteta has proven his doubters wrong, including Neville.