‘A very good addition’: Pundit suggests 47-year-old as Arteta replacement at Arsenal

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Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers would be the ideal replacement for Mikel Arteta if Arsenal give up on the under-fire Spaniard, Gunners fanatic Darren Bent told talkSPORT.

12 games into the new Premier League season, while the high-flying Foxes are once again punching above their weight, the under-achieving Gunners are closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League places.

Thanks to a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang own goal and the latest act of indiscipline from the Granit Xhaka, Arsenal were defeated on home soil for the fourth game in a row against Burnley on Sunday – the first time that has happened since 1959.

While there are no suggestions just yet that Arteta’s job is under threat, despite reports in Italy linking Max Allegri and Maurizio Sarri with the post, former England international Bent believes there is another Premier League boss who may be better suited to revive a club sitting just five points above the bottom three.

“Right now, it looks like these players have switched off from listening to his ideas,” Arsenal fan Bent explained.

“I like (Arteta) as a coach – I think he’s a very, very good coach – but if the players have switched off and are no longer listening to the ideas, it’s going to go from bad to even worse and we might end up being in a relegation battle.

“However good the coach is, if they’re not buying into his ideas then what happens next?

“You can’t just keep having the manager there for the sake of, ‘he’s a good manager’, but the players aren’t listening to him anymore.”

Rodgers led Leicester to an impressive fifth-place finish last term and came within touching distance of the Premier League title at Liverpool in 2014.

And Bent believes the Northern Irishman, who also lifted seven trophies in two-and-a-half years with Celtic, would be the ideal successor if Arteta cannot turn around a sinking ship.

“I love Brendan Rodgers.

“As a coach, he always seems to improve squads. Look at what he’s done with this Leicester team – they’re playing fantastic football. He’d be a very good addition.

“Whether he’d leave Leicester now, I don’t think so, but he’s one I’d love to have in the building.”