Pressure is mounting on the Gunners boss after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Burnley at the Emirates on Sunday, with 2,000 fans booing the players off the pitch.
An own goal from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, coupled with Granit Xhaka’s sending off for violent conduct, gave the Clarets a shock win and left Arsenal in 15th, just five points above the relegation zone.
Arsenal, who have picked up one point from 15 in their last five top-flight games, have not won a league game since November 1 and the Burnley defeat means the club have lost four home league games for the first time since 1959.
This is a far cry from Arteta delivering the FA Cup and Community Shield within nine months of replacing Unai Emery in the dugout.
Arsenal have shown that they can win successive games as they won all six of their matches in the Europa League and are currently in the quarter-finals of the League Cup.
But despite their worst ever start to a Premier League season and Arsenal’s worst start to a top-flight campaign since 1974/75, Edu has backed Arteta to turn their fortunes around.
The Brazilian also warned any disgruntled supporters that the club will not dig deep into their pockets during the January transfer window in an attempt to remedy their current poor form.
This comes amid former Tottenham Hotspur striker Darren Bent saying Arteta’s “time is up”, and that the Gunners hierarchy should sack the Spaniard.
In an interview conducted on Monday but arranged before the Burnley loss, Edu said via Sky Sports: “Relaxing is too much. Just believe. Internally here, listen, we are doing well.
“My main message is that we are not talking about only one person, it is unfair to talk about Mikel, or Aubameyang because he is not scoring goals, or (goalkeeper, Bernd) Leno because he has to stop the goals.
“It is unfair to talk about one person, we are a football team, we have to talk about ourselves, talk about “we” and not “him” so that for me is the main message.
“The way I see things is very simple. It’s normal and easy to be driven by the results. But for me, the main point is when I see something in which I can see the future, see where we go, the way we’re building things, starting to see it on a daily basis.
“So the way we work, the way we train, the way we behave internally, if you see the quality of the work, if you see the quality of the people, if you see properly what’s happening here on a daily basis, it’s nothing to compare with the results.”
Edu said it is not only up to Arteta to turn things around.
He also stressed the importance of giving him time to address the slide.
“If we’re not talking about patience with Mikel it would be very unfair to him. Because what a year we have faced,” he added.
“Pre-season challenges, three months without any football matches, a lot of things changing in the club.
“He started, and stopped, and when he started to get an understanding of all the squad he stopped again.
“He didn’t get a sequence to know everyone properly.
“It would be really unfair to Mikel to say something about that because the year was so challenging for everyone but even more for Mikel, who’d just arrived at the club.
“Because if you have a manager who was at the club for two, three, five years, it makes that situation easier. That’s why Mikel needs always, from my side, good words.”
The technical director said everyone involved at the club is here to “solve the problem”, rather than relying on January transfers to do that.
That big ask will involve many of the current crop improving their form, as many have not been at their best so far in the Premier League.
“We don’t talk about something external,” he replied when asked about looking to buy in January.
