'We thought those days were gone!' - Gary Neville congratulates Mikel Arteta for keeping Arsenal job despite five-year trophy drought

Sky Sports pundit Neville admitted his surprise that Arsenal manager Arteta remains comfortable in his post at the Emirates Stadium despite their five-year trophy drought. The Gunners were eliminated from the Champions League in midweek, meaning their 2024-25 will end without any silverware, having finished behind Liverpool in the Premier League title race.

Arsenal were Liverpool's biggest rivals for the Premier League title but could never truly put Arne Slot's side under significant pressure throughout the campaign, with injuries and a lack of fire-power up front proving costly. Arteta has won three trophies during his time in north London - two Community Shields and the 2020 FA Cup - and former Manchester United defender Neville questioned why there wasn't more uncertainty around his future.

Speaking on Sky Sports ahead of Arsenal's trip to Liverpool, Neville said: "It's a great achievement to not win a trophy in five years and still be the manager of a Premier League team.

"We thought those days were gone where you can have this kind of patience being afforded to you.

"I think it's a good thing, that for five years to not win a trophy, ordinarily there would be a manager under pressure. That's significant in the sense that you think there is progression. I'm glad that on Friday in his press conference he said 'we've gone backwards in the Premier League', because they've tickled our backs a little bit for the last month with the Champions League and it took the heat off them a little bit in how bad they've been in the league being 13, 14 points from where they were last season and the season before.

"But they've left themselves woefully short up top and still haven't got a player in midfield from deep who can receive the ball on the back foot and [Martin] Zubimendi may come to Arsenal. [Thomas] Partey's not great at it, Declan Rice was proven in the first leg against PSG he's great at it.

"They've signed one striker in seven seasons as a footvall club. It's ridiculous that they've left Mikel Arteta so short. They've spent £750m and bought one striker in that time. That's not good enough."

Arsenal still need a strong end to the season to wrap up second place in the Premier League and will hope for a positive result when they visit Anfield on Sunday.