The Celtic fans having a pop at Rod Stewart last weekend were at least getting into the Christmas spirit nice and early.

It took only seconds for “#LjungbergOut” to appear.

A warning to all those disenchanted Arsenal fans heaving a sigh of relief that the Unai Emery era has drawn to a close: while there are a number of credible candidates who could take his place, I don’t think there is a manager out there possessed of the kind of magic wand which would be needed to cure all the club’s ills overnight. Or, for that matter, any time soon.

The journey over to the Emirates on Saturday was a suitable metaphor for what Arsenal have become over the past decade.

Raul Jimenez was on hand to head home a late leveller for Wolves as Arsenal let a lead slip for the third time in a week to increase pressure on head coach Unai Emery.

On a night when two giants of the European game, and a heady mix of youngsters and world superstars, served up one of the games of the season, it was left to a 20-year-old from Cork to make the telling contribution in the penalty shoot-out.

Five things we found out about Unai Emery’s top-four pretenders

Unai Emery has told Shkodran Mustafi and Mohamed Elneny to find new clubs in the coming days — for the good of their own careers.

Ireland hopeful Ryan Johansson started for Bayern Munich as they lost 2-1 to Arsenal in a pre-season friendly in the United States.

Arsenal supporters were warned to be careful what they wished for when they hounded Arsene Wenger out of the club a year ago.

When Shkodran Mustafi joined Arsenal, they went 19 games undefeated when he was in the starting XI.

As well as bidding farewell to some beloved characters, the end of Game of Thrones means we can also say goodbye to the drawing of tenuous links between sport and the goings-on in Westeros.

Solskjaer has brought Manchester United up off their knees

Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno is looking forward to returning to action so soon after the Gunners were thrashed by table-topping Liverpool.

Unai Emery has set a mean stall out. On Arsenal’s pre-season tour of Singapore, the team coach drove by the hotel from the airport and straight to the training ground. A signal of intent to his new players, perhaps, and certainly an instant contribution to the ‘narrative’.

Arsenal 4 Vorskla 2

Arsenal can compete for the Europa League title but the players must first cope with the long-distance travel during their group-stage matches, warned manager Unai Emery yesterday.

Not many managers can claim to have sent a referee into early retirement but Mourinho was accused of precisely that in one of his first European adventures with Chelsea.

Arsenal head coach Unai Emery has warned Mesut Ozil he must help his team-mates to defend as he calls for commitment from all of his players.

Alex Iwobi scored the winning penalty for Arsenal as they defeated Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in front of a crowd of 46,000 people at the Aviva Stadium.

Petr Cech has given another indication that he is planning to stay at Arsenal by declaring himself ready to step up and be one of the club’s five captains.

Germany should really not be surprised by their earliest World Cup exit in 80 years. The four-time winners should have seen the red flags and heeded the warnings after failing to hit top form for almost a year prior to this tournament.

Today: Ozil could be the fall guy again for Germans.

Chris Hatherall previews Wednesday’s World Cup action as the tournamnet heats up.

A day after being put under investigation by Fifa for complaining about the refereeing of their 2-1 World Cup loss to Switzerland and misbehaviour by fans, Serbia’s football association has filed an official complaint with the sport’s governing body alleging “biased officiating” by referee Feliz Brych.

Germany 2 Sweden 1

It seems churlish to use the word ‘crisis’ after only one defeat but Germany’s World Cup defence is looking increasingly nervous as criticism of Mesut Ozil reached abusive levels yesterday and players had to rebut reports of cliques and disunity in the camp.

There will be 100 Premier League players in action at the World Cup, spread across 25 international teams.

Four things Unai Emery must get right if his tenure at the Emirates is to be a success.

With many Gooners struggling to come to terms with the seemingly imminent appointment of Arteta as our new manager, the shock announcement of Unai Emery came straight out of left-field.

Rory McIroy is the clear winner in the 2018 rankings for the richest young sports star in Britain and Ireland, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.

Diego Simeone has admitted he needs to learn to “shut up” to help his team defeat Arsenal in their Europa League semi-final second leg in Madrid tonight.

Arsene Wenger has revealed the timing of the decision to announce his departure from Arsenal at the end of the season was not his call.

Monday morning quarterback

Initially there was intrigue. Then there was admiration, many years of it. Next came pity, followed by a mixture of anger and apathy.

In a week where European football has been dominated by dramatic comebacks and shocks, Arsenal were given an almighty scare by CSKA Moscow as they booked a place in the Europa League semi-final.

How many top strikers would pass up the chance of a hat-trick so a man who might end up taking their place could get a goal?

Arsene Wenger seemed blissfully unaware of the intense negativity surrounding him and his side before they ended a domestic run of three successive Premier League defeats and a League Cup final fiasco with this emphatic victory.