Under-fire Arsenal head coach Unai Emery claims he still has the full backing of the club.
The 48-year-old has come under growing pressure of late following a run of six games without a win in all competitions.
Alexandre Lacazette’s last-gasp equaliser earned a 2-2 home draw against struggling Southampton on Saturday, with the Gunners having now won just two of their last 11 Premier League fixtures.
Emery has been criticised by supporters while speculation over his future has seen the likes of Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo linked to the post.
The Spaniard was publicly backed by Arsenal’s hierarchy during the international break as rivals Tottenham replaced Mauricio Pochettino with Jose Mourinho.
The statement, from head of football Raul Sanllehi and managing director Vinai Venkatesham, said they still believed Emery was the right man for the job but that results had to improve.
The draw with Saints did little to quell the groundswell of fans calling for Emery’s head but, ahead of Thursday’s Europa League tie at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, Emery insists the backing of the club remains in place.
“Really the club is supporting me,” he said. “I feel the club, everyone responsible in that area, is backing me. Really I appreciate it a lot.
“I feel strong with that support and know my responsibility to come back and change that situation.
“We need to recover our confidence and need to achieve good balance and be more compact. We have very good players but now they are playing sometimes without confidence, and each match is to come back.
“We need one good match, one good connection with our supporters and I, above all, need mainly to be strong in my consistent way every day and really I am feeling like that.”
Emery was also asked if he had encountered difficult periods with his previous clubs, and his answer will do little to allay the fears of Arsenal fans as he confessed to often being under similar pressure.
“In my career 15 years I had some situations like today,” he added. “In every club in Almeria, in Valencia, in Sevilla, every coach will have some moments above all when their career is longer and now mine is 15 years.
“In 15 years I have had success a lot of times but also bad moments and really, really my career is going up usually but when I can, I can separate moments like that.”
