Premier League 2019-20: 3 mistakes Unai Emery has made at Arsenal this season

Unai Emery's appointment as Arsenal manager last season came as a bit of a surprise to every Arsenal fan considering the Spaniard was never really in contention to take charge of the North London club.

No one knew what to expect from him in his first season, so not a lot of questions were asked about Arsenal's performance. But he did better than expected as he missed out on the top 4 by just one point, and lost in the finals of the Europa League.

The fans expected things to get much better this season considering how last season ended and more importantly considering how much money Arsenal spent in the transfer window. With the likes of Nicolas Pepe, David Luiz, Kieran Tierney and the young Gabriel Martinelli coming in, Arsenal was expected to become a force this season.

But things have not gone their way so far, especially in the Premier League.

Despite being 5th in the Premier League at the moment, Arsenal have been horrible in most of their Premier League matches, with none of their four wins being convincing at all. There are already talks of Emery possibly being sacked, since it has become clear that the Spaniard has not improved Arsenal much since his appointment.

Here is a look at three major mistakes Emery has made at Arsenal this season:

#1 Making Granit Xhaka captain

Xhaka has faced a lot more criticism since becoming Arsenal's captain.

Granit Xhaka is into his fourth season at Arsenal and it's fair to say the Swiss international has still not made his mark, and most definitely is not a fan favorite. He came to Arsenal with a huge price tag and a lot was expected from him but things have just not worked out.

Xhaka is known for slowing down the pace of the game, making questionable passes and most importantly making mistakes leading to goals.

So you can understand why Arsenal fans around the world were infuriated when Emery decided to make Xhaka the team's captain. Despite captaining his national team and reports that Arsenal players voted for him, it's clear that Xhaka is no leader - and his performances week in week out prove that.

After three seasons at a club, one would expect a player to get used to the league and adapt his game accordingly. But with Xhaka nothing has changed, and he offers little to the team except the occasional long-range goals and passes.

Several reports suggest that Xhaka is just not suited for the English game, and if the Swiss international has still not adjusted it's obvious he is not the kind of player Arsenal need. Everyone remembers what happened when he was substituted during Arsenal's game against Crystal Palace, and I think the booing was the Arsenal fans taking out years of frustration and years of Xhaka not offering anything to the team.

The Arsenal fans did give Xhaka a chance when he became the captain but I think everyone knew deep down that he was not the right choice.

#2 Lucas Torreira being played out of position

Unai Emery has not been playing Lucas Torreira in the correct position

When Arsenal signed Lucas Torreira, every Arsenal fan was thrilled because they had finally got a top defensive midfielder who was capable of developing into a player of the caliber of Patrick Vieira or Gilberto Silva. The Uruguayan had an amazing first season at Arsenal and given their defensive problems, he was expected to provide that much-needed support to the defenders.

Things seemed destined to get better in his second season, but Emery start playing Torreira out of position and that has already started to affect the team. Emery has been using the Uruguayan as a box to box midfielder, suggesting that he should be scoring goals, and that has taken its toll.

Having featured for Uruguay in the 2019 Copa America, Torreira's return to the Arsenal first team was delayed. But even after three months, Emery has only played him in cup competitions, with minor cameos in the Premier League. This is another key mistake Emery has made at Arsenal this season.

Despite seeing the benefits of playing Torreira in his natural position throughout last season, Emery has failed to use his best quality. Torreira's best traits are his ability to break up play, win back the ball, interception, tackling and concentration, and with Emery playing him out of position, Arsenal were always going to suffer.

With Emery under immense pressure, he needs to realize this mistake or he could be without a job very soon.

#3 Completely freezing out Mesut Ozil

Freezing out Mesut Ozil has not worked out for Emery.

Despite Mesut Ozil's horrible performance for Arsenal last season which saw the German score just six goals and assist three from 35 appearances, there is no denying that he is one of the most creative playmakers in the world. Ozil missed several games last season through injuries but many times it felt like the German was just not interested in play, as he used to be ruled of games without any reports of him being injured.

To some extent Emery was right to bench him last season, but Ozil did put in some impressive performances for Arsenal during pre-season. As a result, a lot of fans expected him to play a key role for the Gunners this season; Arsenal's strike force looked dangerous with the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Ozil pulling the strings behind them.

However, Arsenal fans never got to see the four of them play together as Emery decided to completely freeze out Ozil. The German's omission would have been understandable if Arsenal were playing free-flowing attacking football, but Arsenal's performances have been exactly the opposite this season.

Ozil might not be in the best form of his career at the moment, but the German still has a lot to offer. And with Arsenal lacking creativity, having a player like Ozil on the bench at least would come in handy.

Emery needs to gradually get Ozil back into the Arsenal first-team or at least have him on the bench, or else Arsenal's lack of creativity will continue for the rest of the season.