Unai Emery had a very tough act to follow after taking over as manager of Arsenal following the departure of Arsene Wenger, and it was hardly a bed of roses for the Spaniard.
Despite putting together a 22-match unbeaten run, the Arsenal fans never really believed he was the right man for the job, and the task of taking the power away from the Gunners overpaid prima donnas just proved too much for him in the end.
We had great hopes of a trophy following on from Emery’s amazing record in the Europa League, having one three consecutive trophies with Sevilla, and although Emery took us right to the Europa League Final in Baku, we lost embarrassingly 4-1 to our noisy neighbours Chelsea.
That defeat put the writing on the wall for Unai, and having lost the Arsenal dressing room, he was sacked in November 2019 and replaced by Mikel Arteta. But amazingly, the following season he went to Villarreal and only won the Europa League yet again with the Spanish minnows.
Now he has returned to the Premier League with Aton Villa, and had a fantastic start to his reign by beating Man United in his first game, and he explained to the press that he is now more ready for the EPL after his experience with the Gunners. “I am better prepared to face a new challenge in the Premier,” Emery told MARCA. “I already have a year and four months of experience in this League.
“I think my first year at Arsenal was nice. It was broken by some things that I have identified that I am now going to try to avoid. I have always had an internal goal of having a new opportunity and coming back better prepared and I think that at Villarreal I have acquired a continuity that has led to them calling me back from England.
“It’s more of a challenge than a rematch. I had to accept it as something very professional.”
Despite his failure at Arsenal, it cannot be denied that he is a very competent and experienced manager, and we can only wish him well in his new job, except when Aston Villa play Arsenal of course!
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