Unai Emery was sacked as Arsenal manager yesterday after less than two years in charge and with the club without a win in seven games, their worst run since 1992.
The 48-year-old Spaniard was fired following the 2-1 home defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday.
His assistant Freddie Ljungberg is to take over as interim manager during the search for a permanent replacement.
Photo: AFP
Arsenal fans had demanded “decisive action” from directors with the club’s present run of five draws and two defeats this season just one match off equaling George Graham’s run of eight without a win in 1992.
Club directors responded by axing the man brought in 18 months ago to revive a club stagnating after two decades under Frenchman Arsene Wenger.
“We announce today that the decision has been taken to part company with our head coach Unai Emery and his coaching team,” the club said in a statement.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We have asked Freddie Ljungberg to take responsibility for the first team as interim head coach.
“The search for a new head coach is under way and we will make a further announcement when that process is complete,” it said.
Among those in the mix for the permanent job include former Gunners star Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola’s assistant at champions Manchester City, ex-Juventus handler Massimiliano Allegri and Wolverhampton Wanderers Portuguese manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
On Thursday, Japan midfielder Daichi Kamada scored a second-half double for Eintracht after captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had opened the scoring in first half injury time for Arsenal inside a half-full Emirates Stadium.
Boos from the lowest attendance at the ground since it opened in 2006 greeted Emery and his misfiring team at the final whistle while some disgruntled fans held up banners demanding “Emery out.”
The Gunners are still on course for a last-32 place if they draw with Standard Liege on Dec. 12.
Scottish champions Celtic clinched top spot in Group E with a 3-1 win over Stade Rennais while Wolves reached the knockout stages with a 3-3 draw against fellow qualifiers Braga in Group K.
Rangers drew 2-2 against Feyenoord to hold top spot in Group G with a one-point lead ahead of their last game against Young Boys.
Earlier, AS Roma’s Lorenzo Pellegrini was hit by coins as the Italian club kept their last-32 hopes alive with a 3-0 victory against Istanbul Basaksehir.
Attacking midfielder Pellegrini had his head bandaged after he was struck by multiple coins with an hour of the game played after Jordan Veretout, Justin Kluivert and Edin Dzeko had claimed the advantage for the Serie A outfit in Turkey. The visitors remained in contention for a knock-out spot and sit behind leaders Borussia Moenchengladbach, who beat Wolfsberger AC 1-0, on goal difference with the Turkish side a point behind on seven.
In other games on Thursday, it was:
‧ Astana 2, Manchester United 1
‧ Krasnodar 1, Basel 1893 0
‧ Trabzonspor 0, Getafe 1
‧ Besiktas 2, Slovan Bratislava 1
‧ AZ Alkmaar 2, Partizan 2
‧ Young Boys 1, Porto 2
‧ CSKA Moscow 1, Ludogorets 1
‧ Ferencvaros 2, Espanyol 2
‧ Saint-Etienne 0, Gent 0
‧ Oleksandriya 0, Wolfsburg 1
‧ Sevilla 2, Qarabag FK 0
‧ F91 Dudelange 0, Nicosia 2
‧ Malmo 4, Dynamo Kiev 3
‧ Lugano 0, Copenhagen 1
‧ Sporting CP 4, Eindhoven 0
‧ Rosenborg 1, LASK 2
‧ SS Lazio 1, CFR 1907 Cluj 0
‧ Guimaraes 1, Standard Liege 1
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
Taiwan on Wednesday finished with 15 medals at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Hong Kong, taking home four gold, five silver and six bronze medals across the age group divisions. Taiwan ranked third on the medal table after South Korea with 17 golds and the US with eight golds at the five-day competition. “Your athletes have proven themselves as the best in the world,” World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won said at the closing ceremony of the martial art contest that was attended by a record 1,727 athletes from around the world. On the first day of the competition at the Hong Kong
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
RSS