Mesut Ozil Backs Unai Emery to Succeed at Arsenal, Makes Jurgen Klopp Comparison

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Arsenal's Spanish head coach Unai Emery (L) talks with Arsenal's German midfielder Mesut Ozil (R) during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Burnley at the Emirates Stadium in London on December 22, 2018. (Photo by Ian KINGTON / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. /         (Photo credit should read IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)

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Mesut Ozil has backed Unai Emery to have the same impact at Arsenal as Jurgen Klopp has had at Liverpool.

Klopp took over from Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool boss in October 2015 and led the Reds to eighth place in the Premier League in his debut season—the sixth time in seven years they had finished outside the top four.

He has subsequently led them to back-to-back fourth-placed finishes, as well as a UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League final, and in 2018-19, they have matched Manchester City blow for blow in the Premier League title race:

In 2018-19, Emery’s debut season, Arsenal may well finish outside the Premier League’s top four for a third season running:

But the Gunners have already accrued more points this term than they did under Arsene Wenger in 2017-18, and they are in the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League.

Ozil believes Emery can eventually oversee a similar transformation at Arsenal as Klopp has at Liverpool, especially if the north London outfit can return to the Champions League next term, per James Olley of the Evening Standard:

For a new coach, in a new country and at a new club where it’s perhaps a different culture than you are used to, you have to let those things develop. But he is definitely in a good way. 

“He brings us forward and I hope he will continue to get better in the coming years. It’s like with Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool—over time he has been able to make them successful gradually—and hopefully Unai Emery can do the same.

“Champions League football is very important when you look at the potential in this team. We need to be playing Champions League football. The Europa League is another competition and it’s nice to play in but we want to test ourselves against the best and to do that we need to be playing in the Champions League.

Arsenal meet Valencia on Thursday at the Emirates Stadium for the first leg of their Europa League semi-final tie.

Winning Europe’s second-tier club competition is looking increasingly like Arsenal’s best route back to the Champions League, especially as it is a trophy Emery won three times on the bounce when in charge of Sevilla:

The Gunners certainly have the quality to get past Valencia, but they will need to turn their form around for Thursday’s clash after three consecutive league defeats to Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City.

Should Arsenal manage to make the final in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 29, they will most likely face Premier League and London rivals Chelsea, who kick off their last-four tie against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday.

The Blues are fourth in the Premier League, and so could well have secured their Champions League spot by the time of the Europa League final.

They would like nothing more, though, than to beat Arsenal and deny them both a piece of silverware and a place in Europe’s premier club competition.   

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