Arsenal icon Petit says Emery should quit NOW and claims club chiefs were lying when insisting his job is safe
ARSENAL legend Emmanuel Petit has claimed that Unai Emery should quit NOW and that club chiefs were lying when insisting his job is safe.
The blistering attack comes after SunSport revealed the under-fire Spaniard has until the New Year to turn things around at the Gunners.
The official line from the Emirates is that Emery still has the “100 percent support” of head of football Raul Sanllehi and technical director Edu.
But Arsenal are without a domestic victory since the first week in October and have slipped down to sixth in the table, meaning their hopes of Champions League qualification are decreasing by the week.
French World Cup Winner Petit has now joined the growing number of fans calling for Emery to quit, and tipped former teammates Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira to return to the club.
He told Paddy Power: “I believe it’s time for Unai Emery to leave Arsenal.
“The results are not good at all. I don’t recognise this team any more and I don’t recognise this club any more.
I believe it’s time for Unai Emery to leave. I watched the game against Leicester and Arsenal looked terrible. They had no spirit, no hunger, nothing at all
Emmanuel Petit
“Arsene Wenger built this club for 20 years and there was concern as generation after generation came and went.
“But now they look like an average team without any inspiration or creativity – and I don’t think that’s solely down to the players.
“In order to save his job he’ll need to be given until some time around Boxing Day.
“But he’ll need great results and a huge difference in the style of the team on the pitch. There needs to be anger on the pitch, spirit.
“I watched the game against Leicester and Arsenal looked terrible. They had no spirit, no hunger, nothing at all.
“What the club came out and said about Emery’s job being safe is not true at all.
“Everyone knows this the typical official language clubs send out to the press and fans when things are not going well, when they sense tension.
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“This is a political answer and most of the time when I hear officials or shareholders talk like this it’s proof for me that they’re already thinking about sacking the manager.
“It’s the opposite of what they’re saying that might be true.
“But Arsenal needs a great leader now.
“Someone who can bring back the passion, someone respected by the players, someone who can fill the team with energy and the winning mentality.
“Steven Gerrard, for example, is like this.
“I want to see passion, emotion. Someone who, when he takes your hand, you can feel the electricity.
“I want someone who can bring that to the Arsenal dressing room, because they need to wake up.”