OUT OF TIME?
Unai Emery on the brink of the sack at Arsenal – with Freddie Ljungberg on standby ahead of Norwich clash
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UNAI EMERY is on the brink of being sacked after Arsenal’s home Europa League humiliation.
Gunners chiefs are set to meet on Friday and could even axe him before Sunday’s trip to Norwich and No 2 Freddie Ljungberg is on standby to take over.
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Thousands of fans boycotted the Emirates, while others inside the stadium waved Emery Out banners raging: “No tactics, no formation, nowhere to hide.”
Emery even suffered the embarrassment of being ordered to change his jacket as it clashed with the Frankfurt players’ kit.
Somehow, the Spaniard claimed his team had "improved" since their last performance - a desperate 2-2 draw at home to Southampton - despite them not having a single shot on target in the second half.
Speaking to BT Sport, Emery said: "I am being positive but I'm also realistic and we lost against a good opponent.
"We have improved from our last match and we are still first and have the opportunity to qualify, but we missed the opportunity tonight.
"We lost here but for the Europa League, we have the last match to achieve that.
"We showed an improvement in the first half and we had a lot of opportunities to score but we did not take them.
"The first five or ten minutes of the second half were good but then we lost control for 15 minutes and we could not change the result.
"We tried to come back but we did not create any big opportunities to score."
TV cameras caught Granit Xhaka, playing for the first time since being axed as skipper over his “F*** off” rant at fans, laughing as he shook rival stars’ hands.
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The Gunners’ seven games without a win is now their worst run since 1992.
And Gunners legend Martin Keown called for Emery to be axed — branding it a “shambles of a performance”.
The BT Sport pundit added: “This is relegation form. We are on the way down.
"Team selection, team motivation, subs, performance, everything was missing.
"It was a dreadful performance — we are close to it being toxic.
"This is as bad as I have seen it. The guys at the top need to make a decision or Arsenal will plunge down the table.”
Ex-Arsenal star John Hartson also blasted: "That was woeful. They looked like they had no direction and the fans will want him out."
Emery’s programme notes came back to haunt him as he had promised: "We only need a draw to qualify but, for me, we need to win.
"We need to make sure our performance is good and we get the result for supporters."
Arsenal boss Unai Emery shockingly claims ‘we have improved’ after dismal defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt
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In his notes, Emery also bizarrely claimed Arsenal played some of their best football this season in a woeful 2-2 Prem draw at home to lowly Southampton.
Emery and the team were booed off against Saints but he wrote: “We had our best 20 minutes — we created chances, I was happy.”
Arsenal need a point from their final Europa League Group F game at Standard Liege on December 12 to reach the knockout stages.
Granit Xhaka smiles as he walks off the pitch at full time after Arsenal lose at home to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League
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