What’s happening to Emery?

When he joined Arsenal from Paris Saint Germain (PSG), he was met with fanfare and renewed hope by long-suffering fans. After years of being in the wilderness, Arsenal fans felt, at last, they had got a Moses who would lead them to the promised land of trophies. The club seemed to have come to a halt under Arsene Wenger. Fans and, indeed, club hierarchy felt Wenger’s tactics had become old school, tired and stale. They felt Emery was coming with new and modern ideas. To make things sweeter, he was also a serial winner.

After all, while at Sevilla, he had won the Europa League Cup three years in a row. He went to PSG and he won the domestic treble in his first season he topped this by winning the quadruple the following year. No one honestly expected him to break the Manchester City/Liverpool stronghold on the top two positions in the premier league but the expectation was that at least he would win a trophy, even if it was the same FA Cup the man he replaced had won two times in recent years before he parted ways with the club he served for 22 years.

Emery managed to get to the finals of his favourite trophy, the Europa Cup only to lose 4-1 in a one-sided game to local rivals, Chelsea. Although disappointed, Arsenal faithful still kept their trust in him. This show of trust appears to be shared by the club’s owners because they backed him in the transfer market. He was provided with funds to buy new players.

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The likes of Nicolas Pepe, David Luiz, Kieran Tierney and Dani Ceballos were recruited. Pundits quickly became excited that Arsenal finally had a team capable of fighting for the title. Alas, this was not to be. Looking at the team now, the only difference you would notice would be in the personnel. The old defensive frailties and naivety still remain the same.

In the last four matches, Arsenal has failed to consolidate on leads, they have let opponents back into the game after leading for quite a period in the match.

There are also rumours of unrest in the dressing room. At first, it was his refusal to start Mesut Ozil in key premiership games but lately, it is the clash between Granit Xhaka and the Arsenal fans, which led to the Swiss player being stripped of the captain’s band.

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Cries are now out from Arsenal fans to get rid of Emery, just slightly over a year that the same fans were shouting “hosana” when he was first introduced to them. They are facing high flying Leicester on Saturday. If they lose this game, calls for his head are bound to get louder. Without of work Jose Mourinho lurking menacingly in the background, that can’t be a good sign for the Spanish manager.