Unai Emery: Club hierarchy backs Arsenal manager

“We are as disappointed as everyone else with both our results and performances at this stage of the season,” they told Arsenal staff.

“We share the frustration with our fans, Unai, players and all our staff as they are not at the level we want or expect. Things need to improve to meet our objectives for the season, and we firmly believe Unai is the right man for the job, together with the backroom team we have in place.”

Sanllehi and Venkatesham added: “We are all working intensively behind the scenes to turn things around and are confident we will.

“We never take our fantastic support for granted. We hope we can all stick together and get behind the team in this challenging period, as together we are stronger.”

Emery, 48, was appointed as Arsene Wenger’s successor in May 2018 and his first season ended with a 4-1 Europa League final defeat to Chelsea having missed out on a top-four finish by a single point.

This season he has had to contend with former captain Laurent Koscielny refusing to go on the club’s pre-season tour and eventually pushing through a move to Bordeaux.

Emery has since made the controversial call to ostracise Mesut Ozil for a length of time and strip Granit Xhaka of the captaincy after he told supporters to “f**k off” last month.

Xhaka has warned Arsenal supporters that the “extreme hostility” that was directed at him damages team spirit.