Former Liverpool defender and prominent TV pundit Jamie Carragher warned that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta could face the sack if he doesn’t “win something big” next season.

After consecutive second-placed Premier League finishes to Manchester City, the Gunners again came up short in their tilt at the top-flight title, with Liverpool scooping the crown this season.

Arteta also led Arsenal to their first Champions League semi-final in 16 years, but lost both legs to Paris Saint-Germain to confirm another trophy-less campaign. The only major piece of silverware won during his near six years at the helm was the 2020 FA Cup less than six months after his appointment. Arteta, however, would also point to the pair of Community Shields won in 2020 and 2023.

In the aftermath of Arsenal’s spirited 2-2 draw away to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, Carragher reflected on another campaign of near misses for the Gunners. “This season felt like it should have been their season,” the 2005 Champions League winner lamented in his capacity as a Sky Sports pundit. “There’s no doubt next season that the pressure will be on Mikel Arteta massively in terms of winning something and winning something big.

“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. They will be looking at how many managers can make that next step.”

While Arsenal’s trophy cabinet may not have been dramatically altered under his watch, Arteta has transformed a club which was teetering on the brink of chronic mediocrity back in 2019. The former midfielder inherited a side 11th in the Premier League table with a negative goal difference and has since oversee two of the four highest points totals in Arsenal’s modern history.

As Carragher himself conceded, Arteta has done a “brilliant job”. “Arsenal could easily become what Chelsea are right now. They could go from a team coming second year in, year out to a team that doesn’t actually get into the Champions League.

“[Changing managers] is 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.”