STAN COLLYMORE

Football’s ultimate maverick sounds off

IF Nuno Espirito Santo is given the tools at Tottenham there is no reason why he can’t return them to the top four.

He will need a proactive approach at home, which will see Spurs press and take the game to their visitors.

And then away from north London, particularly in the bigger games, they will need to learn to counter attack like Nuno’s Wolves team did, and make use of the pace they have at their disposal.

If they can do that, then I’d be confident he can get them back into the Champions League in the next two-to-five years. It’s not a given, but with the right investment in players he is capable doing it.

Down the road at Arsenal, I just don’t see them getting back there while Mikel Arteta is in charge.

He is a coach who wants to play out from the back and through the lines – but without players who are capable of doing it against the better sides.

Even sometimes against teams who aren’t so good. He isn’t a manager whose formula and way of playing is conducive to attracting anything other than B-list players and, without Champions League football, the club can’t even attract them.

As a result, things just aren’t going to change while he is there.

Which means that, when he does go, Arsenal will face their most important decision since the appointment of Arsene Wenger back in 1996.

Unless they bring in an A-lister such as Diego Simeone or Antonio Conte, then they are going to stay stuck in their current rut.

In years gone by, Arsenal would have been looking at two upwardly mobile clubs such as Leicester City and West Ham United, and then signing their best players.

Unless Arsenal bring in an A-lister they are going to stay stuck in their rut

Injection

A little bit like Liverpool did when they bought me from Nottingham Forest. The Gunners should be looking at Youri Tielemans of Leicester or Declan Rice of West Ham and trying to get them in. But if you’re