Unai Emery Fired by Arsenal After 18 Months, Freddie Ljungberg in Charge

Unai Emery's tenure as Arsenal has come to an end just 18 months on from his appointment at the Emirates Stadium as Arsene Wenger's successor.

The Spaniard's departure was confirmed on Friday:

He leaves the club with Arsenal sitting eighth in the Premier League table, eight points behind the top four and 19 off leaders Liverpool.

Freddie Ljungberg has been installed as interim manager.

Emery's exit has seemed inevitable for some time.

Thursday's 2-1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Europa League extended Arsenal's winless run to seven matches in all competitions, and the Gunners have won just two of their last 11 in the Premier League:

There have also been off-field issues this term, with Emery forced to strip Granit Xhaka of the captaincy earlier this month after he was involved in an angry confrontation with fans during a 2-2 home draw with Crystal Palace:

The 2019-20 campaign had started in decent fashion as Arsenal picked up consecutive wins over Newcastle United and Burnley, but they have been in turmoil ever since. 

Emery, 48, always had a tough job on his hands succeeding Wenger, who spent over two decades in charge at Arsenal.

He did not inherit a winning team, though, with Arsenal finishing sixth in Wenger's last campaign in charge in 2017-18.

Last term, Emery oversaw an improvement from 63 points to 70, but it still only translated to a fifth-place finish, meaning another season out of the UEFA Champions League after Arsenal lost in the UEFA Europa League final to Chelsea.

The search will now begin to find Emery's replacement after he failed in his task to turn Arsenal into title challengers once again.

Former Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri is an obvious contender, and Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo has recently been linked.

Allegri was widely tipped as a possible successor for Wenger back in 2018 and is currently out of a job having left Juve in the summer.