Wednesday morning saw Arsenal announce Unai Emery as the man to succeed Arsene Wenger. The Spanish tactician was named the Gunners new head coach and was welcomed with much excitement by the club's fan base.
He is young, tactically aware, and is animated on the sidelines – three boxes that Le Prof failed to tick most of the time. While the supporters are optimistic, expectations for the former PSG boss are realistic.
A top-four finish is the main demand, not winning the Premier League title, while Gooners wish to see an improvement on their record against the top six. However, a statistic that has now resurfaced may have Arsenal fans worried over how they will fare against the league's elite sides.
Although the 46-year-old got the better of Jurgen Klopp in Sevilla's 3-1 win over Liverpool in the Europa League final, it is his record against Guardiola and Mourinho that is unflattering. Emery has crossed paths with the two Manchester bosses during their spells in La Liga but suffered against the two.
He faced the former Barcelona boss 10 times and crossed paths with the Special One on five occasions during his Real Madrid reign – 15 games in total. Unai was only able to pick up five points from a possible 30, drawing five, losing 10, and winning none.
0 - Unai Emery has come up against Pep Guardiola (10 games) and Jose Mourinho (5 games) on 15 occasions overall, but hasn't won a single one of those matches (W0 D5 L10). Hierarchy. pic.twitter.com/nrimNwI3K1
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 23, 2018
A fair argument can be made in favor of the new Gunners boss, as beating the Blaugrana and Los Blancos with Valencia and then Sevilla is achievable but extremely difficult. The gap between Emery's teams and Spain's top two clubs was significant, more than that between the north London outfit and the Manchester duo.
Only time will tell whether Wenger's successor will succeed at the Emirates. He might just be the man to bridge the gap between Arsenal and the top four, but there is also the possibility of him disappointing.
