Detailed account of events leading to the termination of Unai Emery as manager at Arsenal has been revealed.

The Spaniard’s situation at the club was compounded by the shambolic loss to Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday night at the Emirates in the Europa League match.

The Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol said: “Emery came in for training early this morning with his coaching team. He was called into a meeting with Raul Sanlehi and Edu and told that he was losing his job.

“He took the news in a very respectful manner – as well as can be expected in the circumstances.

“Players were then told that Emery was leaving at 10am meeting, which was led by Sanlehi, Edu and Vinai Venkatesham. Freddie Ljungberg then addressed the players, told them to stick together, turn this around and play for the shirt. He definitely has his UEFA pro licence and his coaching team will be confirmed soon, which is likely to include Steve Bould.

“Sanlehi and Venkatesham flew to US earlier this week for talks with Stan and Josh Kroenke, but the writing was on wall for Emery and last night’s defeat was the final straw.

“The search for a new head coach has started but Arsenal have faith in Ljungberg. They’re aware it will be hard to get high calibre appointment mid-season with the search led by Sanlehi, Edu and Venkatesham.

“Emery said goodbye to the players individually and wished them well.

“Training today was a recovery session and warm down and the players will take part in full training tomorrow before players leaving for Norwich in the evening.”

Carlo Ancelotti has dismissed talk that he could leave Napoli for Arsenal.

The Gunners sacked Unai Emery on Friday sparking speculation about who the club chiefs want to employ on a permanent basis.

Max Allegri and Ancelotti have been tipped to slug it out with the bookies’ favourite, Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Nuno Espirito Santo.

Ancelotti was linked with replacing Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur, according Football Italia.

However, the former Chelsea boss told BT Sport: “I stay with Napoli, of course.

“These are rumours! I have white hair and experience. In this moment they are all rumours.”

Chelsea star Willian says the London club “know what I want, what I want to do”

Juventus and Barcelona are reportedly keen to acquire the services of the 31-year-old as his Chelsea contract expires in the summer.

The Blues boss Frank Lampard has openly declared his intention to retain the Brazil international.

Asked if Chelsea had made him any offer yet, Willian said: “No, not yet. Honestly I’m happy here. I feel happy to play for this club but this situation is not in my hands. It’s in theirs.

“I wait for them. They know what I want, what I want to do. They already know so I wait for them.”

Arsenal have terminated the appointment of Unai Emery and his coaching team after the spate of poor outings by the team.

The Gunners were beaten at home last night by Eintracht Frankfurt after Daichi Kamada’s brilliant double earned the Germans an away victory in the Europa League clash.

Emery came into the match having failed to lead his team to victory in their previous six outings, and defeat made it their longest winless run since February 1992.

Josh Kroenke, on behalf of Arsenal Board, said: “Our most sincere thanks go to Unai and his colleagues who were unrelenting in their efforts to get the club back to competing at the level we all expect and demand. We wish Unai and his team nothing but future success.”

A club statement read: “The decision has been taken due to results and performances not being at the level required.

“We have asked Freddie Ljungberg to take responsibility for the first team as interim head coach. We have full confidence in Freddie to take us forward.

“The search for a new head coach is underway and we will make a further announcement when that process is complete.”

Reports in England claim Arsenal chiefs are meeting this morning to discuss Unai Emery’s future, with the beleaguered Spaniard on the brink of the sack.

Ahead of Thursday night’s clash against Frankfurt, there was a sense Emery would have Sunday’s game at Norwich to help halt their alarming slide.

But the circumstances of Thursday night’s Europa League loss has accelerated the urgency regarding Emery’s future behind the scenes at the Emirates Stadium.

The stadium was largely empty – and the fans that did attend turned on the team and manager.

The Gunners hierarchy will make a decision on whether Emery gets the the trip to Norwich as a final chance to prove he is worthy of more time to turn their season around.

However, according to Sportsmail, the majority of the Arsenal board are now in favour of terminating Emery’s contract in hope of sparking a turnaround in fortunes.

If they agree on dismissing the former PSG boss, the recommendation of axing Emery will be made to owner Stan Kroenke, who will make the final decision.

It has also emerged bookmakers have suspended betting on Emery being sacked after what Paddy Power described as ‘a flood of money’ being placed on his departure.

Arsenal are aware attracting their preferred candidates, such as Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo, will prove difficult mid-season should they pull the trigger on Emery.

With that in mind a double-act of ex-players Freddie Ljungberg and Steve Bould – who are both coaching at the club – would be considered as a short-term solution.

Ljungberg would be viewed as the figurehead, while Bould, it is understood, will take on the majority of the coaching responsibilities.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has identified Carlo Ancelotti’s tactical adjustments as the reason Napoli made life difficult for the Reds.

Dries Mertens had opened the scoring from a tight angle, but Dejan Lovren nodded in a corner for the 1-1 Champions League draw at Anfield.

This means Liverpool still have a one-point lead at the top of the group, but Napoli’s final game is with Genk, whereas the reigning champions must travel to RB Salzburg.

“In the Napoli dressing room they feel like they are already through and maybe they are. Everybody here thinks, ‘Oh my god, it will be tough’ and it will be tough, that much is clear,” Klopp told BT Sport.

Ancelotti surprised by using Nikola Maksimovic as a right-back and Giovanni Di Lorenzo in a more advanced role, rather than Jose Callejon.

“The way Napoli set up, it didn’t help that they scored, they could follow their plan all the time, we had to increase pressure all the time.

“We were not brilliant, but we put pressure on them. I was not happy with the last 15 minutes of the first half. Second half it was just intense and of course it’s not easy, they really defended the goal they had.

“We didn’t have the biggest chances, maybe one or two. For tonight it might not be enough, but it’s still our situation. When we go to Salzburg, if we had done it tonight, we would try to win there, so it’s still our goal.

“They closed the centre so we needed to come from the wing. The plan is one thing, but the boys have to execute it, and they crossed too early. We take that, it was always a hard one.”

Photo Credit: Twitter @Liverpool FC

It’s all square at the break after Mateo Kovacic cancelled out Valencia goal in the 41st minute of the game at Mestalla Stadium.

Another enthralling half for Chelsea in this group. They started well, but then were under the cosh, and had two let-offs thanks to Maxi Gómez.

Kovacic’s belter is his first goal for Chelsea after 121 games.It’s a strike from 25 yards, a daisy-cutter along the grass and it nestled beautifully in the bottom corner.

But Abraham handed Chelsea worrying news as the striker left the arena on a stretcher – he started to walk around aided by the medical team but looked in absolute agony.

He appeared to land on the legs of a Valencia player – and may be consigned to the sideline for some time.

Photo Credit: Twitter @chelseafc.com

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has explained why left Ross Barkley out of the travelling party for Champions League clash against Valencia, criticizing the midfielder for “a lack of professionalism” after he was pictured shirtless in a nightclub.

The 25-year-old has been struggling with an ankle injury.

And, Lampard says he must “show his reactions on the pitch” amid the controversy surrounding his Chelsea career.

“I certainly don’t hold anything against my players,” Lampard said.

“There are two separate issues, one is the headlines this week, Ross knows how I felt about the first headline.

“I backed him then and I still back him now but he showed a moment of a lack of professionalism as far as I’m concerned.

“It’s not something that I want to be a pure dictator about and come down hard on, because I also understand all my players are humans and have lives and I don’t think it’s a terrible thing that he’s done.

“I like Ross, he’s certainly one of my players. He has had an injury, he’s still kind of carrying an injury, there’s a bit of pain on shooting so he just has to work his way back in, in terms of the fitness thing, and train well.”

Jose Mourinho thanked a ballboy for playing a part in Harry Kane’s goal against Olympiacos on Tuesday night.

With Tottenham trailing 2-1, the ball went out for a throw-in to the hosts and a ballboy raced to throw the ball to Serge Aurier.

Aurier then found Lucas Moura with his throw and the Brazilian crossed for Harry Kane, who slotted home the equaliser.

Mourinho, in his first home game as Tottenham manager, was quick to acknowledge the part that the ballboy played in Kane’s strike, Sportsmail report.

The Portuguese high-fived and hugged the ballboy, which will no doubt help to endear him to Tottenham fans. Mourinho praised the ballboy after the game.

Speaking to BT Sport, Mourinho said: “I love intelligent ballboys. I was a brilliant ballboy as a kid and this kid was brilliant. He understands the game and he got an assist.”
https://twitter.com/AirtelUFootball/status/1199606283352956929?s=20

Paulo Dybala’s goal made the difference as Juventus to beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 and lock down top spot in their Champions League group.

There was, however, a scare deep into stoppages, as Alvaro Morata failed to tap in a ball flashed across the six-yard box, but he seemed to be offside anyway.

These sides famously clashed last season, Ronaldo’s hat-trick overturning a first leg defeat for a 3-0 home victory.

Dybala completed a give-and-go with Ramsey to test Jan Oblak, as Juve seemed to be focusing on quick one-touch football, something we’ve seen precious little of from Maurizio Sarri.

Saul Niguez turned a free header surprisingly off target, then Wojciech Szczesny spilled his daisy-cutter, only to scramble it back under control before a tap-in.

Dybala was eager to show his skills and a sensational back-heel flick forced Mario Hermoso into a bookable offence to stop him.

The deadlock was broken thanks to a moment of sheer magic from La Joya. Rodrigo Bentancur earned a free kick on the outside edge of the box, at the by-line. It seemed impossible to score from that angle, but Dybala steered his free kick into the far top corner to stun Oblak.

After the restart, Saul Niguez’s chest and half-volley on a corner was straight at Szczesny, while Joao Felix drilled wide, but substitute Federico Bernardeschi’s low strike from the edge of the box bounced off the base of the near post with Oblak beaten.

Atletico Madrid started to increase the pressure as the game went on and Angel Correa seemed certain to score when sent clear by Joao Felix, but De Ligt came sliding in like a train to take it off his foot with a last-ditch tackle.

Photo Credit: Twitter @en.atleticodemadrid.com