The Arsenal man is facing increasing pressure to bring consistency to the club’s results.
Manager Unai Emery has until January to save his Arsenal job, The Sun report.
The paper says that while the public messaging on the Spaniard’s future at the Emirates presents a united front, there’s now a deadline in place on him to turn the Gunners’ form around.
The Gunners have failed to win in the Premier League for over a month, losing to Sheffield United and Leicester City while drawing with Crystal Palace and Wolves.
It’s reported that a critical date is January 1st when the club face Manchester United. If Arsenal have no realistic hope of achieving Champions League qualification through their league position after that, then the club will ‘reluctantly’ look to put someone else in charge.
With the club said to have also placed Manchester City coach Mikel Arteta on a shortlist of potential replacements, it’s clear that time is rapidly running out on Emery to start producing results.
How difficult is Arsenal’s run?
Emery’s side are producing results in the Europa League. On the continental front, there shouldn’t be any worries about progression into the knockout stages of that competition.
As laid out above though, it’s domestic action which will make or break the Spaniard’s Arsenal career.
The Gunners’ next four league matches are very winnable, with all of them coming against teams in the bottom half of the table. Two of those outfits – Southampton and Norwich City – are in the relegation zone.
Things start heating up in mid-December though, with matches against Everton, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United all coming in the space of a few weeks.
Right now, the odds are against Arsenal staying in touch of the top four, but Emery will be hoping they can click into gear soon and show supporters they are heading in the right direction.
Anything else could cost him his job sooner rather than later.
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