Arsenal hero Martin Keown insists Mikel Arteta is lucky to be in the job.
The Gunners were facing Europa League heartbreak at Villarreal after they went 2-0 down inside 30 minutes in the first leg of their semi-final this week.
Nicolas Pepe's second-half penalty gave Arteta's ten men a lifeline in the tie with a crucial away goal after Dani Ceballos had been sent off.
Keown wrote in the Daily Mail: "Mikel Arteta's tactics and decision-making on Thursday should have sent Arsenal crashing out of Europe and possibly ended his managerial career at the club.
"However, remarkably and thanks to that late penalty won by Bukayo Saka, Arsenal find themselves still very much in this tie against Villarreal.
"Arteta is being afforded the rare commodity of time and now he's the beneficiary of an even rarer occurrence: a second chance. And this is one he really has to take.
"Arteta experimented with a false nine on Thursday, lining up without a recognised centre forward.
"Playing with that new formation for the first time in the biggest game of the season was a big ask of the players and a huge gamble. It didn't pay off."
