Several Arsenal players are currently unhappy with the way that Mikel Arteta is failing to control the dressing room, particularly with the way he criticised Nicolas Pepe after his red card against Leeds United a couple of weeks ago.
With Arsenal extremely low down the table and without a Premier League win since the start of November, Arteta badly needs a win, especially after a disastrous result against Burnley, where they lost 1-0 at home, thanks to a Granit Xhaka red card and an own goal from captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
As a result, Arsenal are now 15th in the table, and have lost four consecutive home league games for the first time in more than 60 years.
The dressing room is mounting pressure on Arteta as well, mainly after Arteta stated that Pepe's red card against Leeds was "unacceptable" and that the Ivorian winger had "let the team down".
According to Football.London, "some of the first-team squad were unhappy about the way he called him out on TV".
Football.London added that the "fall-out effect of leaving two influential figures in the dressing room has been felt" as the situation has become "a slow chasm which has indeed affected the mood of the squad and left an unsettling atmosphere around London Colney".
This was made in reference to the omissions of the very influential Mesut Ozil and Sokratis, who were not named in the Arsenal squads for the Premier League or the UEFA Europa League, with the pair being set for moves elsewhere.
Speaking after the Burnley defeat, Arteta claimed that Xhaka's red card was even "worse" than Pepe's won, as in the "conditions that we are in when we are not winning football matches it's even worse".
He did protect Xhaka slightly during the interview though, saying "Honestly, I think it is unacceptable to do that action and the players are in a moment where they are so willing to do more, to fight more, to show how committed they are, to be alive in the games," adding that "On this occasion Granit has overstepped the line."
Arsenal now have to welcome an in-form Southampton to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, as they look to recover as quickly as possible, or else, Arteta might be facing the sack.
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