In 2018 Arsene Wenger resigned from his position as Arsenal FC Manager, which ended his 22-year reign at the club. During this period he won Premier League title 3 times and lifted FA Cup and FA Community Shield on 7 occasions.
Unfortunately, Arsene had no success in Europe during his reign even though he came close in 2000 when the Gunners lost to Turkish side Galatasaray on penalties in the UEFA Cup Final and in 2006 when they were unlucky against Barcelona losing narrowly 1-2 in the UEFA Champions League Final in Paris.
Unai Emery was brought to the club so that Arsenal can finally end their 14 years draught without a Premier League title and achieve positive results in Europe. The man born in the Basque region, arrived at the Emirates after successful spells in Sevilla and Paris Saint Germain.
The new season did not start well for Unai Emery and the club had its worst start to Premier League season in 26 years losing to Manchester City and Chelsea in the first two games. However, poor start to the season was followed by 22 games unbeaten run in all competitions, the spell that included a 4-2 win against arch rivals Tottenham.
The positive performance would not be possible without successful signings made by Unai Emery. The Spaniard brought to the squad some promising young players, including 19-year old Matteo Guendouzi from French League 2 side Lorient, 23-year old Uruguay international Lucas Torreira from Serie A outfit Sampdoria and 26-year old German goalkeeper Bernd Leno from Bayer Leverkusen. All of these signings impressed so far this season.
Lucas Torreira became regular first team player and has made around 40 appearances so far this season, while Matteo Guendouzi has proven himself as a bright prospect at the Emirates and recently stated that he was living his dream at Arsenal.
Bernd Leno on the other side was signed as a long-term replacement for Petr Čech, who has announced earlier this year that he will retire at the end of the season. Even though the German stopper was not part of Unai Emery’s plans early in the season and did not feature in Premier League games he played most of Arsenal’s group games in UEFA Europa League.
However, on 29 September 2018, in a home fixture against Watford, Petr Čech has suffered an injury and was replaced by Bernd Leno. The newcomer impressed the Spanish coach during next games and remained the first-choice keeper even after Čech has recovered from his injury.
Compared to previous season, Arsenal are on course to finishing in the top 4 in the Premier League and thus securing their place in the next season’s Champions League, after 2-years absence. Still, if they finish outside the top 4 in the Premier League they can still qualify to the UEFA Champions League by lifting the UEFA Europa League trophy at the end of the season.
Unai Emery has a positive record in the competition, which he won on three occasions during his 3-year spell at Spanish side Sevilla FC and the Gunners are among the favorites to lift the UEFA Europa League trophy.
Arsenal has topped their group in the UEFA Europa League, winning 5 and drawing 1 game, while keeping 5 clean sheets in the process. In the Round of 32 they were drawn against Belarusian champion BATE Borisov who have strong pedigree in the European competitions. After surprise 0-1 defeat in Borisov, Arsenal secured a comfortable 3-0 win at the Emirates and progressed to the next round and will now face the French side Stade Rennais FC in the Round of 16.
Even though the teams have never met the Gunners have a positive record against French sides, and have only lost twice in their 22 games against French opponents and look strong favorites to proceed to the quarter-finals. Moreover, with relatively few strong opponents left in the competition it will be no surprise if Arsenal will win their first European trophy since UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup back in 1994.
Nonetheless, if Unai Emery fails to lift the Europa League trophy and doesn’t finish in the top 4 of Premier League, does he still deserve to continue as manager of Arsenal? Or do you believe his European experience is enough to give credit to continue, at least for one more season, as the Gunners manager? Should we allow him to develop his players and keep betting on his qualities or let him go in the end of this football period?
Besides bearing in mind that replacing a figure like Wenger isn’t easy, surely Arsenal doesn’t want to end up like Manchester United after the departure of Alex Ferguson and become another “cemetery” for coaches. Still, the supporters definitely deserve more than a 5th spot and another year of football on Thursdays.
