Arsenal star apologises to Unai Emery after Spaniard is sacked as Gunners manager

Unai Emery was sacked as Arsenal manager after the Gunners' 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday night

Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has sent an apology to Unai Emery on behalf of the Gunners players following the Spaniard's sacking.

Former Paris Saint-Germain manager Emery was dismissed by the north London club on Friday morning after a run of seven matches without a win.

A 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday night, which saw fans boo the side off the pitch, was the final straw for Arsenal chiefs - who wielded the axe around 12 hours after the final whistle.

Martinez was in goal for the defeat, his seventh appearance of the season.

And the 27-year-old took to social media to say sorry to his ex-boss, and keeper coach Javi Garcia, and took part of the blame for the situation.

Martinez said: "Thank you @UnaiEmery_ and Javi I’m sorry we let you down, it’s our fault for not performing the right way , I’m sure we will meet again."

Despite being the first current Arsenal player to post a message, Martinez liked a post on Instagram last week which called for Emery to be sacked.

Former Arsenal players John Hartson and Fabrice Muamba also took to social media to react to the sacking.

Hartson posted on Twitter : "Ljungberg was a great help to Emery last night.. sat down for 90 mins.. surely you get in the managers ear if you can see what’s going wrong.. Emery had to go."

Muamba simply tweeted: "Result business."

Josh Kroenke 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.”

Arsenal wrote in a statement announcing the decision: "We announce today that the decision has been taken to part company with our head coach Unai Emery and his coaching team.

"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."