COLIN MURRAY BALL BOYS ARE MASTERS OF THE DARK ARTS SEVEN & HELL
MISERY FOR EMERY AS WINLESS RUN GOES ON TO LEAVE HIM UNDER INTENSE PRESSURE
ARSENAL manager Unai Emery appears to be on borrowed time after his side blew the chance to confirm their place in the last 32 of the Europa League last night.
The Gunners’ wretched winless run extended to seven as they suffered a second-half collapse with Eintracht Frankfurt substitute Daichi Kamada scoring twice in eight minutes.
There were large swathes of empty seats at the Emirates, with only a pocket of fans from Germany managing to get round their ban from Uefa after previous trouble in Europe.
Some disgruntled home fans brandished ‘Emery Out’ signs and loud jeers rang out in protest at the continued poor performances as lacklustre Arsenal slumped to a 2-1 defeat.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit his tenth goal of the season with a shot which went in off the underside of the bar on the stroke of half-time to raise hopes Arsenal could end their malaise. But the Bundesliga side, who were poor in the opening 45 minutes, turned it around after the break to send the Gunners to their first home defeat of the campaign.
Arsenal reached the final last season and only needed a draw to reach the knockout stages this time around.
They remain top of Group F, a point ahead of Eintracht, but now face a tough final game at Standard Liege next month.
Granit Xhaka returned for the first time since being stripped of the captaincy and was booked late in the second half.
Arsenal had suffered a blow after half an hour when David Luiz had to leave the pitch with an injury to his ribs and he now faces a fight to make Sunday’s trip to Norwich.
Emery cuts a dejected figure at the Emirates last night