The manager facing exit who Man United should appoint instead of Michael Carrick, Mikel Arteta must calm down - and this season's top five signings: IAN LADYMAN on My Premier League Weekend

Strength and certainty has been the backbone of Mikel Arteta 's six and a half seasons at Arsenal . He wouldn't have taken the club from the identity-fail years of late Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery without it.

Arteta inherited a team that was not without talent but was drastically short of the mental and physical resilience needed to succeed.

To me, Arteta's legacy at the Emirates is secure regardless of whether he adds another trophy to the FA Cup he won six months into his tenure, back in August 2020. He has made Arsenal relevant again. He has made them proper.

Sometimes, though, a manager has to accept that he may have got something wrong. And as Arsenal seek to steady themselves ahead of a week comprising a Champions League quarter-final second leg at home to Sporting Lisbon and a Premier League clash at Manchester City next Sunday, it's hard not to wonder if his team are starting to sag a little under the expectation that comes when a club hasn't won a league title for two decades.

Feeling pressure is normal in these situations. All footballers feel it, no matter what they tell you. But when it threatens to reach a peak, it's a manager's job to act as a filter and shield.

Calm down? Mikel Arteta could do with heeding his own advice to guide Arsenal to glory

Has Arteta always done that successfully at Arsenal? Maybe not.

I remember watching Arsenal beat Liverpool 3-1 in February 2024 and watching Arteta's players celebrate as though they had won the league. Midfielder Martin Odegaard was taking photographs of the crowd at the end of that one. But Arsenal didn't win the league.

A year later young Arsenal star Myles Lewis-Skelly mimicked Erling Haaland's goal celebration as the Gunners crushed City 5-1 at home. Arsenal didn't win the league that season either.

And now we are here listening to Arteta tell the home crowd to 'get up early, have an early breakfast, bring your lunch, bring your dinner, and let's all go together for it' before a home game that his team subsequently lost meekly to Bournemouth on Saturday.

What is slightly baffling about all that was that if there is one place where a home crowd doesn't need revving up then it's at the Emirates. The desperation to win again is so deep and keenly felt amongst the Arsenal supporters that it hangs over that stadium like an anxiety on a match day.

On the touchline, Arteta is the embodiment of all that. The Spaniard never sits still and never shuts up. Again I have wondered before whether that helps or hinders his team.

It's a really fine line but what is beyond debate is that the Emirates crowd feed off all that visible and at times seemingly performative emotion. They don't need pre-game exultations from their manager.

Believe me, they are wound up about all of this already and seeing Arteta at one stage gesturing to them to 'calm down' on Saturday perhaps summed the whole circle of hyper-stimulation up rather well. 'Back at you,' they may have said.

Passion. Adrenaline. Feelings. We need all of those in football. And nobody will begrudge Arteta and his players the party that would follow a Champions League or Premier League success this season.

I have a sneaking feeling they may still win the Premier League but right now something has to change. Arsenal need a big player or two to step forward now and, apart from goalkeeper David Raya, who among them can say that they are leading by example right now?

Arsenal need players to think big and play big but on the evidence of recent performances, they are shrinking. Ultimately, that one has to be on the manager.

Asked about his team's chances of winning the league after beating Chelsea yesterday, City manager Pep Guardiola clicked his fingers in the air. It can change like 'that' he said. He is right, too.

Arsenal lead Sporting after game one and they lead City in the league table also. Opportunity is still theirs. But Arteta must shift the mood and the tone within his own dressing room before it's too late.

Can he do it? The answer to that may yet dictate exactly what kind of legacy he one day does leave behind.

Liverpool's defeat of Fulham contained much of what is now recognisable when it comes to Arne Slot's team. Playing at home, Liverpool had an awful lot of possession but struggled to find a way to make chances against a deep-lying defence.

On this occasion young Rio Ngumoha made the difference. The 17-year-old's goal was superb and broke open the game while his understated celebration pointed to a young player perhaps aware that the really big challenges still lie ahead.

Slot is criticised for so much at Anfield now that I would be surprised if he even puts his shoes on with confidence in the morning. For much of this season he has been pilloried by sections of the Liverpool fanbase for not putting Ngumoha into his starting team sooner.

Watching the teenager here, though, was to see the wisdom of Slot's strategy. Making an impact as a substitute is totally different to playing for 90 minutes and against Fulham it was possible to see a young player still adjusting to those demands.

Nobody's need at Liverpool has been greater than Slot's this season. He knows that his position is under threat. But it would be wrong to put a player's development at risk just to try and save your own skin. Slot deserves credit for seeing a bigger picture.

Arne Slot dishes out a hug to Rio Ngumoha after his match-changing contribution

PSG will come to Anfield for the latest biggest game of Liverpool's season in the Champions League tomorrow night.

Leading 2-0 from the first leg of the quarter-final, PSG have just had the weekend off after the French league agreed to the leaders' request to postpone their Ligue 1 game against second-placed Lens.

Many people ask why the Premier League aren't so accommodating to English clubs seeking European glory.

There are several reasons and preserving the integrity of the league is certainly one. But first and foremost this is money talking. TV money to be precise.

The collapse of Ligue 1's TV deal with DNZ means that French football is not propped up by television income in the same way that the top flight of the English game is.

Look at it like this. If you were SKY and TNT and paid £6.7billion between you for the privilege of showing Premier League football for four years, would you really agree to postponing one of the biggest games of the season just to benefit one of the teams in another big European competition?

Of course you wouldn't.

At Chelsea Liam Rosenior says he is also playing the long game and points to the fact that Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola didn't win anything in their first season at Liverpool and Manchester City.

'I have only been here since January,' said the Chelsea manager.

'But I need to win now.'

It's a fair point but ultimately all teams have to move forward if a manager is to survive and that is particularly true at Chelsea.

Guardiola struggled at times during season one at City in 2016-17 but his team still finished 12 points better off than Manuel Pellegrini's version had the season before.

Klopp took over from Brendan Rodgers in October 2015 and took Liverpool straight to a European final.

Liam Rosenior must win to survive as Chelsea manager after folding 'like a pack of cards'

Rosenior's problem is that after a bright start on his watch, Chelsea are now trending backwards. Chelsea managers on the whole are not allowed to lose five games out of six, as he has just done.

What's more there is a chaotic feel about the club once again. Chelsea were competitive for 45 minutes against City yesterday but fell apart 'like a pack of cards' (Rosenior's words) thereafter.

Rosenior says he is making decisions for the long term but quite simply he is at the wrong club for all of that.

Cole Palmer had a good 20 minutes against City but continues to look unrecognisable from the player who made everything look so easy in his early months at Chelsea. Phil Foden, meanwhile, was given 14 minutes off the bench once the game was won.

Two months from now England will be in Florida ahead of the World Cup. It's hard to imagine both players will be there.

Palmer will probably benefit from the fact it will be a 26-man England squad. Foden looks as though he will be staying at home.

One of the many reasons for Foden's relegation to the City understudy list is the emergence of French forward Rayan Cherki who played in the number 10 role against Chelsea. The former Lyon star was the best player on the pitch, just ahead of left back Nico O'Reilly.

In terms of talent it seems City have a worthy successor for Kevin De Bruyne. Cherki, 22, possesses a similar breadth of vision when in possession, for example.

It probably was not a coincidence afterwards, though, that City manager Guardiola spoke without prompting of the need for Cherki to 'work hard'. Invited to discuss his player's brilliance, it was a point he kept coming back to.

De Bruyne was so many things but he was an exceptional team-mate first and foremost. Few understood the collective ethos that ran through City better than the great Belgian.

He serves as the perfect role model for his wannabe successor in so many ways.

(*In the crowd at the Bridge meanwhile sat Frank Lampard and Yaya Toure. In this new period of pace and power in the top flight, it struck me that we don't have anybody quite so thrilling to watch from central midfield as either of those two.)

Rayan Cherki was the best player on the pitch at Chelsea, just ahead of left back Nico O'Reilly

Before kick-off at the Bridge a group of Chelsea fans took advantage of the TV monitors in the Press box to watch the final moments of Tottenham's defeat at Sunderland. Their reaction at full-time spoke volumes.

The rivalry between the clubs continues to run deep and with that in mind a significant date is looming.

Tottenham must come to Chelsea for the penultimate game of their season - barring some fixture movement around the FA Cup final should the Blues get there. It would be some way to mark the (give or take a fortnight) 10-year anniversary of the Battle of the Bridge if Chelsea were to send their great enemy down.

Sunderland's defeat of Tottenham leaves them 10th and Regis le Bris continues to battle it out – in my head at least – with Brentford's Keith Andrews for the manager of the year honours.

Just as importantly for Sunderland, they are four points and four places ahead of rivals Newcastle with six games left to play.

At Newcastle, it's increasingly hard to see manager Eddie Howe remaining at the club beyond the summer. None of the noise around the club is now good and it feels as though an incredibly mutually beneficial relationship has run its natural course.

It would now seem peculiar to me if Manchester United didn't do everything in their power to appoint Howe as their new manager next season.

It's increasingly hard to see manager Eddie Howe remaining at Newcastle beyond the summer

At the Stadium of Light it was hard to understand why home centre forward Brian Brobbey was not awarded a second yellow card for shoving Cristian Romero into his own goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.

It was reckless in the extreme and Romero's season is now over as a result.

It was a fractious affair all round by the Wear and a game that needed the calming influence of Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka.

Has there been a better Premier League transfer over the last twelve months than Xhaka's arrival from Bayer Leverkusen for £17m?

Probably not.

Here are my top five: Granit Xhaka (Sunderland), Senne Lammens (Manchester United), Bryan Mbeumo (Manchester United), Rayan Cherki (Manchester City), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Everton).

With honorary mentions to Robin Roefs (Sunderland), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds) and Joao Pedro (Chelsea).

Sunderland's outstanding captain Granit Xhaka leads the signings of the season list

As startling as it sounds, next season will be Brighton's 10th in the Premier League. Where did that decade go?

Through Chris Hughton, Graham Potter, Roberto de Zerbi and now Fabian Hurzeler, the Sussex club have shown just what can be achieved if your managerial strategy and future-proofing is right and your recruitment is done with reason and purpose.

Mats Wieffer scored both his team's goals as they won for the third consecutive week, at Burnley, and the Dutch full back is just another example of Brighton finding players seemingly overlooked by bigger clubs.

Wieffer, 26, was not exactly a steal at £25m from Feyenoord in the summer of 2024 but will be at the World Cup with Holland this summer and it will be a surprise if Brighton don't sell him at a profit at some point in the near future.

Nobody does regeneration quite like Bournemouth, meanwhile, and their own reserves of quality and character have been on display again since the turn of the year.

It was hard not to fear for them when City took their best player from them in the January window, Antoine Semenyo leaving the club for £60m.

But amazingly Andoni Iraola's team have not lost any of the twelve Premier League games they have played since then. They, too, remain in the hunt for Europe.

West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo was not popular with his own supporters for resting players for an FA Cup quarter-final with Leeds that was subsequently lost on penalties.

Five days later and his team beat Wolves 4-0 at home in the Premier League.

Leeds are in an FA Cup semi-final but West Ham are no longer in the bottom three of the Premier League.

It could be argued it was the right outcome for both clubs.