Unai Emery isn't 'better' than Mikel Arteta – but Arsenal boss' career achievements pale in comparison to Aston Villa's serial overachiever
GOALThe Gunners boss is one of the most exciting young coaches in the game today, but his fellow Spaniard still has a far superior CV
Modern football fans are a fickle bunch, but there's a certain section of Arsenal's following that's particularly capricious. When Unai Emery was sacked as the Gunners' head coach five years ago, an independent observer would have been hard pressed to find a single dissenting voice at the Emirates.
However, immediately after Mikel Arteta's Arsenal had opened their season with an ultimately comfortable 2-0 win over Wolves last Saturday, a discussion over the best manager in the Premier League after Pep Guardiola descended into a heated argument over whether Emery was actually superior to his predecessor. As so often happens in the era of social media, the argument has since become a topic of ferocious debate online.
Of course, the timing is no coincidence, with Emery's Villa set to host Arsenal on Saturday in what is undoubtedly an early test of the visitors' title credentials. The Gunners, remember, lost both of their league games against Villa last season, which partly explains why they ended up finishing two points behind champions Manchester City – and why Emery is now viewed in a very different light by Arsenal supporters.
