Arsenal sack Unai Emery with Ljungberg taking over as caretaker

Arsenal have sacked manager Unai Emery following the disastrous sequence of results that culminated in Thursday’s 2-1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League in front of a largely empty Emirates Stadium.

The club’s board had publicly backed their manager during the recent international break saying he was “the right man for the job” but that “things need to improve”. However Saturday’s toxic 2-2 draw with struggling Southampton and Thursday’s Europa League defeat seem to have forced their hand and Freddie Ljungberg will take temporary charge of the team.

We announce today that the decision has been taken to part company with our head coach Unai Emery and his coaching team.

Speaking on behalf of the Arsenal board and our owners Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, Josh Kroenke said: “Our most sincere thanks go to Unai and his colleagues who were unrelenting in their efforts to get the club back to competing at the level we all expect and demand. We wish Unai and his team nothing but future success.”

The decision has been taken due to results and performances not being at the level required.

We have asked Freddie Ljungberg to take responsibility for the first team as interim head coach. We have full confidence in Freddie to take us forward.

The search for a new head coach is underway and we will make a further announcement when that process is complete.

-The Guardian