Why Unai Emery’s Arsenal experiment has been a massive success
Following Arsène Wenger’s 22-year reign in North London was always going to be a difficult task, but Unai Emery has brought relevance back to the Emirates.
On Monday, Arsenal went third in the Premier League after defeating Newcastle United 2-0 at the Emirates with stunning goals from Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette. While third is not typically considered an achievement for a club of the Gunners’ historical prestige, given the team’s deterioration during the final years of the Arsène Wenger regime, a third place finish in Unai Emery’s first season would plant a stake in the ground that Arsenal are on the right path to return to glory.
To finish as ‘best of the rest’ in a season where two of England’s footballing juggernauts, Manchester City and Liverpool, have grappled for control at the top from start to finish seemed like an impossible dream when Emery took over at Arsenal in the summer. The former Valencia, Sevilla, and Paris Saint-Germain manager walked into arguably the largest transitional project the top flight has seen since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure from Manchester United and has immediately hit the ground running both domestically and in Europe.
Emery entered a situation where the club had been intrinsically linked with its former manager in nearly every aspect. Wenger was on the forefront of revolutionizing training and nutritional techniques at Arsenal in the mid-90’s before also turning the Gunners into one of the deadliest attacking sides in the world on the pitch. During the first part of his reign, the likes of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pirès and other legends graced the pitch.
Wenger completed the greatest season in top flight history in 2003-04, with Arsenal’s “Invincibles” not losing a single league game. The Frenchman also added two more Premier League titles as well as seven FA Cups to his impressive trophy cabinet while also reaching the 2006 Champions League Final.
During the final years of Wenger’s managerial reign, however, the club began to struggle heavily, initially fading from true title contention before eventually failing to qualify for the Champions League altogether by finishing in the Premier League’s top four. With Arsenal having missed two consecutive Champions League campaigns and massive fan protests, the club finally decided to turn in a different direction this summer.
In Emery’s first season, where he had to rework a club that was structurally and tactically based in Wenger’s style, he has had immense success, keeping Arsenal in top four contention while also reaching the Europa League quarter-finals. Following years of barren transfer windows where the club’s needs were not adequately addressed, Emery found cornerstone pieces to his Arsenal project in Lucas Torreira, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Mattéo Guendouzi, and Bernd Leno in his first transfer window.
Even despite his successes in the market, this Arsenal side entered the 2018-19 campaign with arguably the worst squad of the Premier League’s top six sides, with the dream of returning to Europe’s premier club competition still appearing to be down the road. Nevertheless, Emery has maintained the ship through its highs and lows, from a 22-match unbeaten run in the first half of the season to losing European ties against BATE Borisov and Stade Rennais.
Even with an aging, mistake-prone, and injury-riddled defense, the Gunners are still here on matchday 31 in pole position to finish in the top four and even above bitter local rivals Tottenham Hotspur. With no more games against fellow top six sides, Emery’s first season in charge has already proven to be an incredible success. He has persisted through a hugely difficult situation to put Arsenal back on the path to their rightful place among the Premier League’s elite.
Next. How Milan Škriniar can be Manchester City's Virgil van Dijk. dark
The league’s best success stories of recent years, Manchester City and Liverpool, were both built through a manager’s vision and their clubs’ backing. Emery has a clear plan for his Arsenal side and the brand of football he wants to bring to the Emirates. Perhaps Unai Emery’s project at Arsenal, with continued funding from the board, is on its way to someday rival that of Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp. All in all, however, the future is bright at the Emirates with Emery at the helm as a new era begins for Arsenal Football Club.