With Arsenal’s failure to beat Southampton during the weekend, the pressure has increased on manager Unai Emery.
The recent performances have led to many asking for him to be removed from the club and we now may have an indication as to what is going to happen.
Former BBC journalist David Ornstein had tweeted about how things stand as far as Emery is concerned. He stated that the manager will still be in charge when Arsenal take on Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday.
Recording 1st episode of a new weekly @TheAthleticUK podcast at 2pm, released Tues 7am. This one will focus on Tottenham #THFC, Man Utd #MUFC, Arsenal + more. #AFC squad given Sun/Mon off, Emery in charge Thurs as things stand. Send Qs to @adeymoorhead & we’ll answer a selection
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) November 25, 2019
Few reports before the Southampton game claimed that the Spaniard had been given four games to save his job. These games were considered by the Arsenal board to be ones that the squad should be winning.
But the failure to win on Saturday will have cast further doubts on how well Emery is suited to this job. Apart from Saturday’s game, the other three matches are against Norwich, Brighton and West Ham United.
While it is nice to see the board back their man, it must not end up damaging the chances of the club. The Gunners currently lie in 8th place and are 8 points off 4th placed Chelsea.
If the club is unable to win all the remaining three games, it will put Arsenal in a real spot of bother. And when you add a very tricky festive period with some big games, it is tough to see Emery still being at Arsenal come the end of December.
It can be argued that the problems with Emery began towards the end of last season. When it seemed that the Gunners had done everything to secure a top four finish, they somehow ended up finishing fifth.
To add insult to injury, they went to lose the Europa League final 4-1 to local rivals Chelsea. This season began in a patchy manner, but the club seemed to have the rub of the green.
That seems to have vanished in the last month or so as they are struggling to get a win at the moment. It looks like this is the last chance Emery is going to be given and it is up to him to prove that he is the man to take Arsenal forward.
