Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has urged the club’s hierarchy to retain their belief in him amid a challenging period for the inexperienced manager.
Arteta earnt plaudits at the end of last season as Arsenal won the FA Cup, beating Manchester City in the semi-finals and then Chelsea in the final.
But the praise has since turned to concern in recent weeks after three consecutive defeats at the Emirates and two league wins since the start of October.
Arsenal have also struggled to create and score goals with captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cutting a frustrated figure.
While there is no immediate risk of Arteta being sacked, an improvement is needed to boost the atmosphere around the club.
Before Arteta joined Arsenal, he was assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
And Arteta says faith in his methods is needed to achieve the goals that have been set.
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“At Man City in our first year, which was complicated, I saw the reaction of people around Pep, the people in the hierarchy,” Arteta told DAZN.
“They didn’t have a doubt, they knew the path to follow – this year something has happened but we are going there and the following years it was different.
“For me the most important thing when you are building a new project is that you need to be very clear in what you want to do and the people around you have to know what you want to do, believe in that and be willing to defend that for a sustainable and reasonable period of time.
“Changing to what we want has risks and the way we want to play requires a lot of precision, a lot of game plan. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
“We have been very clear where we are going and in this path there’s going to be times when the project is going to suffer.
“There we have to be stronger than ever, keep our idea and keep trying to bring the players we want, keep the players we have and evolve them. For me that’s the main secret.”