[ad_pod ]
Arsenal have not enjoyed the best of seasons on the road.
As has been copiously covered, the Gunners have been beaten eight times away from home this season, while also drawing four times. They have won just six games.
This is a familiar problem for Emery, though, and a trawl back through his managerial career suggests that he has no idea whatsoever how to fix it.
In 2015-16, Emery was managing Sevilla. He took the club to Europa League glory and a seemingly respectable seventh-placed finish in La Liga.
However, he failed to win away from home at all in the Spanish top-flight.
It is a statistical quirk, some might say, but the difference between the club’s record at home and on the road is stark. That season, they played 19 games at home and won 14. They drew once and were beaten four times, by Atletico Madrid, Celta Vigo, Real Sociedad and Granada. They beat Real Madrid 3-2 at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan and Barcelona 2-1. The draw came against Deportivo La Coruna. They scored 38 goals and conceded just 21.
Sevilla away 2015-16
Wins: 0
Draws: 9
Losses: 10
Goals scored: 13
Goals conceded: 29
This speaks to a well-organised, well-drilled team who thrives on the big occasion; it is incredibly rare that both Real and Barca fall to the same team outside of the top three.
But away from home, Sevilla were nothing short of dreadful.
They recorded nine draws and were beaten 10 times. Real, the team they scalped at home, thumped them 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Barcelona won 2-1 at Camp Nou. Rayo Vallecano, Getafe and Levante were all relegated that season and all three drew with Emery’s men at home. Sporting Gijon, who stayed up by one point, won 2-1 at home in the run-in.
Indeed, in all competitions, Sevilla won on the road three times. They beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1 away in the Europa League quarter-finals. Ironically, they then lost at home, by a 2-1 scoreline, but progressed on penalties. Their other two wins came in the Copa Del Rey against lower-league opposition, 3-0 successes over Mirandes in the Round of 32 and Logrones in the quarter-finals.
Arsenal, of course, have not quite been this bad this season but they have been far from impressive. They have won six times on the road but half of those victories have come against the bottom three; a 2-1 win over Huddersfield Town on April 9th was followed by a 5-1 success over Fulham in October and a 3-2 victory over Cardiff City in September. The other wins came against Newcastle United in September, AFC Bournemouth in November and Watford in April.
It has been a major problem and it has placed Arsenal’s participation in next season’s Champions League in serious peril. The club are currently fifth in the Premier League, two points behind Chelsea and four off Tottenham Hotspur in third.
They could, of course, win the Europa League and sneak in that way but to do that they will have to beat Valencia over two legs and then beat either Eintracht Frankfurt or old rivals Chelsea in the final.
Emery, as 2015-16 shows us, does have experience of lifting that trophy. When it comes to fixing his side’s away form, however, it does not appear as though he has the answer.