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Petit: Henry or Vieira should take over at Arsenal

Cape Town - Former Arsenal star Emmanuel Petit reckons the club's public backing of Unai Emery means he will be sacked and says they should hire a Gunners legend.

Emery retains the full support of his board for now, but that stance could change if no improvement is made on the field over the coming weeks.

In an unusual start to the Premier League season, Arsenal find themselves in only sixth place despite being above fellow giants Manchester United and Tottenham.

Arsenal have only won four of their first 12 matches this season and there has been an over reliance on new captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's goals to get points on the board.

And Petit would like to see a former Arsenal face in place of Emery if the Spaniard leaves his post.

"People may laugh at me but I wouldn't mind seeing a former player on the bench," Petit told Paddy Power.

"Is there a former Arsenal great you can call, like Thierry Henry or Patrick Vieira? Pick one: there are so many. You even have Freddie Ljungberg already in the dugout.

"Patrick has done a very good job over two years at Nice, though you don't know what's going to happen at that club as they've just been bought out by Ineos and Jim Ratcliffe. So we'll need to wait a few months to see what’s going on there."

Petit also thinks that Arsenal's defence of Emery is the clearest "proof" yet that they are lining up his replacement.

"What the club came out and said about Emery's job being safe is not true at all," Petit added.

"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.

"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."

- TeamTalk Media

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