Dean Ashton believes Unai Emery has had a positive impact at Arsenal despite the Gunners recording their worst start to a league season in 26 years.
Not since the inaugural Premier League campaign of 1992/93 have Arsenal lost both their opening two matches, while Emery is the club’s first manager to lose his first two games in charge since Steve Burtenshaw in 1986.
There have been a few calls of ‘EmeryOut’ on social media, but the wider public are accepting Emery, the former Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain boss, needs time to mould Arsenal into his vision after Arsene Wenger’s 22-year spell in charge.
Things have been made harder due to Arsenal’s fixture list, which pitted them against reigning champions Manchester City and Chelsea, under new manager Maurizio Sarri, in the opening two games of the season, and a better indication of progress under Emery will be Saturday’s home match against West Ham – who have also lost their opening two games this season under a new head coach, Manuel Pellegrini.
Still, Ashton, the former West Ham striker, believes he has seen an improvement in Arsenal, despite the defeats to City and Chelsea.
Speaking to the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, Ashton said: “They had two really, really difficult games to start with, and I think Emery can only really be judged now, after these two games.
“I can see what he’s trying to do; you can see he wants more of the high press, which he tried against Man City, you can see he wants Ozil and Mkhitaryan to have defensive responsibilities.
“It’s going to take the likes of Sokratis and Guendouzi time to get used to the Premier League, and the other players to get used to training hard and different methods.
“But what I have seen is encouraging, despite obviously looking weak defensively when coming up against two of the best teams in the league.”
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