Jamie Carragher compares Mikel Arteta to Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho | Football

Mikel Arteta has become the Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho of the current Premier League landscape, believes Jamie Carragher.

The Arsenal boss is the longest-serving manager in the Premier League at the moment, having been in charge at the Emirates since December 2019.

No other current boss is particularly close to that length of tenure, with next in line being Unai Emery who took over at Aston Villa in November 2022.

Not only has he been around the longest, but Arteta is also the reigning Premier League champion after the Gunners conquered the top flight last season.

Carragher believes the Spaniard is aware of his position as the top dog in terms of Premier League bosses and is using it in how he deals with the media.

Arteta was fuming after Arsenal’s win at Sunderland on Saturday after Ezri Konsa was adjudged to have fouled Dan Ballard in the penalty box.

Gunners goalkeeper David Raya saved the spot kick from Enzo Le Fee and Arsenal won the match 2-0, but that did not seem to quell Arteta’s rage.

‘We also had to overcome a situation that, in my opinion was unacceptable at this level,’ he said.

‘I’m very worried and sad because this can never be a penalty. It’s a judo roll from the opponent. Ezri does nothing. We have to take responsibility to protect the game. Today the game was unprotected and it could have cost us the win and our momentum. I’m really sad. It should never have happened.’

Carragher saw those comments as an example of Arteta using his position as a respected, influential manager to try and influence future decisions, as he believes Ferguson and Mourinho did.

‘This was Mikel Arteta becoming the Sir Alex Ferguson of the Premier League right now,’ the Liverpool legend said on Sky Sports.

‘He’s the don at the moment; he’s the Premier League champion.

‘A lot of new managers about, he’s been in his role for six or seven years, and he feels he’s in a position of power to say, “Yeah, it wasn’t a penalty.” And I don’t think it was a penalty.

‘But it’d be interesting to see how long it takes for another referee to give a penalty against Arsenal in a similar situation.

‘I thought it was very interesting in the press conference; one of the journalists made a point about, no matter what question you asked him, he kept going back to the penalty, so he was determined to get the narrative out that this won’t happen again to his club.

‘But that’s a manager — we’ve seen it with Sir Alex Ferguson, we’ve seen it with Jose Mourinho.’

It was reported on Monday that Arsenal intend to contact refereeing body Pro Ref about the penalty decision given at the Stadium of Light.

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