Arsenal Fans Fly ‘Back Arteta, Kroenke Out’ Banner Over Villa Park in Support of Manager

The owner has drawn criticism from the Arsenal fans in the past, however, Arteta, who was appointed midway through the season, has backed Kroenke

Ahead of Arsenal‘s visit to Villa Park for their penultimate Premier League match of the ongoing season on Tuesday, a banner, apparently from fan(s), was flown over the stadium that called for the ousting of the club’s owner Stan Kroenke.

The banner, which called for backing their manager Mikel Arteta, read ‘Back Arteta, Kroenke Out’.

The owner has drawn criticism from the Arsenal fans in the past, however, Arteta, who was appointed midway through the season, has backed Kroenke saying he has got their full backing and supporters need to be more patient.

“The Kroenkes and the board and the sporting director, I feel full backing with them,” Arteta told Sky Sports. “What we don’t know is a lot of things, we need to wait a little bit of time to be there. But backing and support, 100 per cent, I believe that.”

“The fans have to believe what I’m saying. If not, I would not say that,” he added.

Arsenal though were condemned to a 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa who have climbed out of the relegation zone and need to win their final Premier League match against West Ham to ensure another season of top-flight club football.

The loss ended the Gunners momentum which they seemed to have acquired after hunting down PL champions Liverpool and knocking out FA Cup holders Manchester City in successive games.

They cannot finish higher than eighth in the points table meaning their hopes of qualifying for Europa League are now fully dependent on winning FA Cup in the final of which they will face Chelsea.

“Congratulations to Villa because they were put under a lot of pressure and they managed to win the game,” Arteta saod. “We were in some really good positions but we didn’t manage to deliver the ball. Emotionally and physically it’s been a very demanding week but I saw a team who wanted to fight until the end. I’m not disappointed about the attitude – I know where we are in certain areas and where we need to improve more. We will get that.”