Friday saw Unai Emery's reign at Arsenal officially come to end. The 2-1 loss at home to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League being his last game after a run of poor results that had many begging for his sacking.
David Ornstein writes that the 2-2 draw at home with Southampton, a game which saw north London giants outplayed and lucky to come away with a point against a team second from bottom in the standings, was the final draw.
And there were merits to this decision. The Gunners were going through a torrid time, one that would land the manager the axe at other top clubs. The most glaring statistic is the club's winless run, going seven straight games without a single victory in all competitions.
To put this into perspective, this is the worst winless run in Arsenal's history since 1992. Even Wenger in his final seasons at the Emirates Stadium never fell this low. Speaking of the former manager, comparing the Frenchman's final 51 games before stepping down to Emery's 51 games shows nothing improved.
The numbers are almost identical, with both the Frenchman and the Spaniard picking up 88 points. While Le Prof suffered more defeats –17 compared to Unai's 13, one could argue that it was better under Wenger as they enjoyed more wins (27 to Emery's 25), scored more goals (97 to 91), attempted more shots (771 to 629), and faced a lot fewer of them (594 to 717).
The Gunners' Europa League season has been fairly impressive despite the recent home defeat. Their Premier League campaign is a totally different story, winning only four of their opening three games. In fact, Emery has won less than half of the English top-flight games he's overseen, boasting a 49% win percentage.
Since beating Bournemouth in a drab 1-0 win back in October, Arsenal haven't won a single league game. That's a 56-day wait for a victory in the Premier League. Due to all these factors, Emery's departure was widely celebrated. Here are the best tweets to his sacking.
Unai Emery has been sacked.
— Blueblooded (@Teeswift1) November 29, 2019
Arsenal fans:#UnaiEmeryOut #EmeryOut #GoodEbening pic.twitter.com/TDGk2GMKHk
How Arsenal fans dragged Emery outta Emirates .#EmeryOut pic.twitter.com/Qri9jaCyqt
— Ku Nasser (@IamHaxx) November 29, 2019
Emery is sacked Arsenal fans right now calling one another.#Arsenal pic.twitter.com/EEdpT9LREd
— Future Mali (@FutureMali) November 29, 2019
Ozil and Pepe after getting the news that UNAI EMERY has been sacked pic.twitter.com/tmMovYR9ew
— Reagan Tinka (@EasyMoneySnipa6) November 29, 2019
UNAI EMERY IS GONE! PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY #AFC pic.twitter.com/ZbciL5C44Y
— Frimpon (@FrimponOnline) November 29, 2019
Fans saying goodbye to Unai Emery pic.twitter.com/udDTEbKsJf
— Simpsons Arsenal (@SimpsonsArsenal) November 29, 2019