Mikel Arteta's Arsenal future would be a fair topic of discussion if the Gunners endure a particularly disastrous end to the 2024-25 season, expert Charles Watts feels.
There is still the slight possibility that the North London giants could miss out on qualification for the 2025-26 Champions League, as they are yet to wrap up a top-five finish in the Premier League owing to their failure to win either of their last two games.
Arsenal are also facing a herculean task away to Paris Saint-Germain in Wednesday's UCL semi-final second leg, having succumbed to a 1-0 defeat in last week's opening tie, and they have never progressed from any European two-legged showdown when losing the first leg at home.
Arteta only signed a new contract with Arsenal in mid-September, so Watts cannot see him being given the boot by the hierarchy, although he would understand fingers being pointed at the Spaniard if the Gunners somehow fail to qualify for next year's Champions League.
"I think it would be fair to discuss it," Watts told Sports Mole. "I don't think the club would do it. It'd be a conversation that they have, they'll certainly sit down and say this has not been a good enough season if that does come to pass, but I don't think his internally his job would be under any pressure yet.
"It would just be a really really bad season, but I'd be stunned if anything happened. From a fan point of view, there'd be every right for people to point fingers, ask questions and think how have we let things slip so alarmingly this season?
Watts confident of Arteta stay even in worst-case scenario
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"The league form has been alarming the last couple of months. They've regressed, absolutely no doubt about it. You can't look at the league table, the points tally and not come to the conclusion they've regressed.
"There is context to that. The Champions League has taken preference, there's been injuries, but you've got to deal with that and Arsenal haven't dealt with it well enough in these final two months. I don't think the club would sit there and be looking at Arteta and thinking 'maybe we have to make a change' I just think that'd be too early.
"If anything was to happen in terms of the manager this summer, I think it would be him rather than the club making that decision. I wonder if he'd look at it and think 'have I taken them as far as I can go?' but I don't see that happening at all."
Results elsewhere meant it was not mathematically possible for Arsenal to seal a top-five placement in the Premier League last weekend, but beating Bournemouth would have put them on the brink of doing so.
However, in a result that epitomised their season, the Gunners took the lead only to throw it away, as Dean Huijsen and Evanilson cancelled out a Declan Rice opener in a 2-1 victory for the Cherries.
Arsenal have now failed to win 10 Premier League games in which they have led this season - a new unwanted club record - and they have now dropped 21 points from winning positions in the top flight this term, their joint-most in a single campaign.
The Gunners' latest slip-ups have allowed Manchester City to cut the gap to second to three points, while Chelsea and Newcastle United are four points behind, Nottingham Forest six and Aston Villa seven.
Should Arsenal be fearing for their Champions League chances?
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Arsenal end the campaign with two daunting fixtures against Liverpool and Newcastle and one friendlier battle with relegated Southampton on the final day, but Watts is not overly concerned about the possibility of Arteta's men falling out of the top five.
"No, I think they'll be all right," he added. "If they manage to muck it up from here, they don't really deserve anything anyway, they've only got themselves to blame.
"If Arsenal beat Newcastle, that's done and dusted in terms of Newcastle can't finish above Arsenal anymore. Southampton on the final day, if you can't pick up three points from Southampton then you shouldn't be in the Champions League.
"I think they'll be all right, they've just put themselves in a position that they really shouldn't have been. It should have been done and dusted a long long time ago, but they just haven't been good enough. They've had so many opportunities to be 10, 12, 15 points further ahead than when they are, and that's just looking back in the last 10 games, the amount of points that they've dropped.
"When the season finishes and Arteta and the coaching staff look back on it, they'll look at it with real regret from this last couple of months. The silly points that they've given away must be maddening for them. I'm sure they'll really pour over and wonder quite why it's got to this."
Watts also previewed Arsenal's blockbuster UCL semi-final second leg with PSG on Wednesday night, revealing "the only way" he can see the Gunners turning the tie around at the Parc des Princes.
Press play on the video above to listen to the full discussion about Arsenal's top-five situation and Arteta's future.
Ben Knapton
