Arsenal will not sack Emery and are 100% behind the manager (Athletic)

Reports of contact being established with potential successors to Emery are vigorously denied and it has been clearly communicated that they are not considering a change of head coach.

The dissatisfaction among Arsenal supporters towards Unai Emery appears to have peaked following Saturday’s defeat at Leicester City, which confirmed their worst start to a top-flight season since 1982-83.

The Gunners already find themselves eight points behind the Champions League places and having statistically — and many would argue stylistically — regressed since Arsene Wenger left in 2018, fans are seemingly unified in the view that after 18 months as head coach, Emery should be sacked.

He is now the favourite with most bookmakers to become the Premier League’s next managerial casualty and speculation is already rife about who might succeed the Spaniard.

However, The Athletic has been informed by senior sources that Arsenal’s hierarchy remain “100 per cent” behind Emery and still plan to wait until the summer before making a decision on his future.

Whether or not that plan changes is impossible to predict, but the 48-year-old will be in position for his side’s next match at home to Southampton on November 23 and is said to have the total backing of Arsenal’s ownership, board of directors and executives to turn the situation round. 

We are told that owner Stan Kroenke and his son Josh, head of football Raul Sanllehi, managing director Vinai Venkatesham, technical director Edu and all other influential figures are firmly on the same page.

Reports of contact being established with potential successors to Emery are vigorously denied and it has been clearly communicated that they are not considering a change of head coach.

Emery has failed to oversee a win across his last five games in all competitions and can lay claim to only a single Premier League victory since his men edged past Aston Villa on September 22. At the King Power Stadium, Arsenal were holding their own before Jamie Vardy opened the scoring on 68 minutes. 

The internal view is that prior to the goal, the Gunners had been dominating play, creating doubts in their opponents’ minds and building momentum. Vardy’s effort came as a body blow to a team already struggling for confidence and from that moment on they posed little threat, soon conceding a second to James Maddison.

There is acknowledgement at Arsenal that Leicester are an extremely strong side, especially at home, and the top brass think Emery’s team showed clear signs of improved performance. It encouraged their view that Arsenal are on the right path and possess players and staff of the quality and capacity required to reach their targets. 

They are adamant their project is sound, well planned and will bring success, provided the external atmosphere allows it to do so. They hope the international break comes at a good time for the squad — allowing them a welcome change of scenery — but accept the absence of domestic matches will increase the “noise” around Emery and they are determined not to let it influence their thoughts or actions.

With 26 games to be played, Arsenal’s powerbrokers feel there is plenty of time for their fortunes to be reversed and a run of positive results to transform the atmosphere. 

They are preaching qualities such as patience, confidence, belief, focus, resilience, togetherness and consistency. There is no attempt to hide the fact that most of their problems have been self inflicted, though they also apportion blame to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system.

Emery is halfway through a three-year contract at the Emirates Stadium and although it was suggested by some that he should be given a fresh deal after guiding Arsenal to May’s Europa League final, this desire was not shared by all of the key decision makers and ended up being overruled.