Nuno Espirito Santo's first season as Arsenal boss predicted by Football Manager

The Wolves manager has been linked with the vacant manager's position at the Emirates following Unai Emery's sacking, so how would he get on?

With Unai Emery and his staff gone, speculation is ramping up about who could replace the Spaniard at the Emirates, with Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo reportedly of interest to the Gunners' decision makers.

The former Valencia manager has done a fantastic job at Wolves since taking over in May 2017, winning promotion from the Championship in his first season and following it up with an impressive seventh place Premier League finish in his second season, which led to a Europa League place in 2019/20.

So, how would Nuno Espirito Santo perform as Arsenal manager if he was appointed?

And, what system would he play?

We used Football Manager 2020 to have a bit of fun and see what could happen if Arsenal appointed Nuno Espirito Santo, including where the club would finish in the Premier League under the Portuguese manager.

Nuno Espirito Santo at Arsenal

Football Manager 2020 predicts that Nuno will have a decent first season at the club, but that they will eventually miss out on Champions League football under the former Wolves boss.

Despite some positive results towards the end of the season, they will finish just two points off the top four, missing out to Frank Lampard's Chelsea and Jose Mourinho's Tottenham.

Premier League: Fifth place

Nuno largely employed a 4-2-3-1 formation at the Emirates, with Ceballos, Pepe, Aubameyang and Lacazette forming a deadly front four, with Lucas Torreira employed in a deeper midfield position.

Lacazette was in outstanding form under Nuno, scoring 26 goals in the season, as Ozil led the assist charts with 16.

Here is how Arsenal's best performing eleven in 2019/20 looked.

Some of Arsenal's best results included a 3-1 win against Jose Mourinho's Spurs in the Europa League semi-final.

They also beat their local rivals in their own back yard in the league, thanks to a Nicolas Pepe penalty.

But they didn't do too well in the domestic competitions, going out of the FA Cup to Everton and the Carabao Cup to Liverpool.

The Gunners did reach the Europa League final under Nuno, beating teams like AS Roma, RB Leipzig and Celtic along the way, but eventually lost the final to Italian side Lazio on penalties.

FA Cup: Fifth Round

Carabao Cup: Quarter-Final

Europa League: Final (Runner-up)

So, although results would pick up under Nuno, with Arsenal eventually finishing in fifth, they would still miss out on Champions League football, according to Football Manager 2020 anyway.

Would it be another underwhelming appointment?

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What do you make of this prediction?