Arsenal: Top 5 Unai Emery replacements

3. Freddie Ljungberg

Replacing a manager mid-season is not easy. Doing so when Champions League qualification is vital and the squad is in a state of great upheaval after two extremely busy transfer windows is even more challenging.

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Perhaps, then, it might serve Arsenal better to turn to a short-term, stop-gap solution to guide them through the remainder of the season, before they then look to a long-term appointment next summer. Not only would this provide more stability for this season and for the future tenure; it would also give the club plenty of time to conduct a thorough and detailed coaching search.

If this indeed the course the Gunners choose to go down, there is no better than candidate to succeed Emery than Freddie Ljungberg. Already at the club having managed the under-23s last season and then being promoted to first-team assistant in the summer, Ljungberg is in the rare position of understanding the overall values of the club, experiencing the mistakes of Emery throughout the past few months, and also having already garnered a relationship with the players.

Ljungberg is extremely popular among the Arsenal players, especially the younger prospects who worked with him closely last season. He was promoted into the senior set-up to help ease the communication between Emery and the team. If you want a short-term fix to get you through the rest of the season before re-evaluating, look no further than Ljungberg.