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Arsene Wenger has praised Unai Emery’s “excellent job” since succeeding him as Arsenal manager in the summer and said he’s happy the club didn’t require a complete rebuild after his departure.
Wenger stepped down as Arsenal manager in May after 22 years at the club, after which it was feared they could suffer in the transition. However, Wenger told beIN Sports (h/t Evening Standard‘s James Benge) “the team is in good hands” with Emery:
“I think Emery is doing an excellent job. With the recruits he has brought in, it has brought a form of defensive stability, and so I think everything is going well.
“The team is in good hands and I always said that. A lot of people thought when I left the club that the team would need to completely rebuild—I never thought that.
“I am very happy that these people have been proven wrong.”
Emery is almost midway through his maiden Premier League season and has Arsenal fifth, three points off fourth-placed Chelsea. The north Londoners have suffered back-to-back defeats, however, and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup following a 2-0 home loss to rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
The Gunners succumbed 3-2 at Southampton on Sunday, after which Emery conceded the club’s chances of securing a top-four finish were diminishing, via HaytersTV:
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Emery brought in the likes of Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Stephan Lichtsteiner to strengthen his defence, as well as a new starting goalkeeper in Bernd Leno. He also signed defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira, 22, and central starlet Matteo Guendouzi, 19, has impressed in the engine room following his move from Lorient.
The defence still has improvements to make, though. Of the eight clean sheets Arsenal have kept this term, only three have come in the Premier League (Everton, Watford and Huddersfield Town).
Attack isn’t as much of a concern considering the loss to Spurs in midweek was just the second time they’ve failed to score in a domestic match this term, and Eurosport’s Tom Adams recently praised Emery’s start:
Tom Adams @tomadams83
@Stillberto Exactly. Longer term the question might be how much of the attacking invention and imagination which was worthy under Wenger is retained while Emery properly sorts out the defensive side of things. But what a fantastic start
Some of the hallmarks of Wenger’s teams remain, however, as Benge said during the narrow 1-0 win over Huddersfield earlier this month:
James Benge @jamesbenge
Emery urging his players to calm down from the sidelines. I'm seeing no sign of it on the pitch, this is the sort of desperate play with plenty of time left you associate with the final days of Wenger.
The forecast for Emery’s first Arsenal season looked far gloomier when they lost back-to-back games against Manchester City and Chelsea in their first two matches this season. Things quickly improved, though, as he then led the team on a 22-match unbeaten run that only ended with the loss at Southampton.
The Gunners host Burnley on Saturday and could still make the top four by year’s end if Chelsea slip up in their next few fixtures.
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