Unai Emery sacking was in the pipeline for ‘weeks’ says Arsenal director Josh Kroenke

Arsenal director Josh Kroenke says the sacking of boss Unai Emery had been in the pipeline for ‘several weeks’.

The Spaniard was dismissed after 18 months on Friday morning after a run of seven matches without a win in all competitions.

Results and performances had seen a large section of supporters turn on the former PSG head coach, with the club currently eight points adrift of fourth placed Chelsea.

Freddie Ljungberg has been placed in temporary charge and will take charge for the first time at Norwich City on Sunday while the hunt for a new manager continues.

2004 Invincible Freddie Ljungberg is in temporary charge.

And Kroenke told the club’s website that the writing had been on the wall for Emery.

“Like all of our fans and supporters around the globe, we’ve been concerned about our recent string of performances,” said the son of owner Stan Kroenke.

“We wanted to support Unai and his staff until we decided it was time to make a change and ultimately we came to that decision over the last several weeks as a group between myself, Raul, Vinai and (technical director) Edu.”