Arsenal have confirmed the appointment of former player Mikel Arteta as their new manager.

The Spaniard, who had been an assistant coach at Premier League champions Manchester City, succeeds Unai Emery.

Emery was sacked last month following a poor run of form, with Freddie Ljungberg placed in temporary charge of the North London side.

Ljungberg, another former Gunner, will remain in charge for the game against Everton on Saturday.

Arteta spent five years as a player at the Emirates, making more than 100 appearances between 2011 and 2016.

The Arsenal job is the 37-year-old’s first managerial role and he has signed a three-and-a-half year contract.

Head of football Raul Sanllehi said the club had interviewed other candidates before deciding Arteta was their man.

“We met several top-class candidates and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us,” he said in a club statement.

“Mikel understands Arsenal Football Club and what it means to our fans around the world.

“We look forward to him getting down to work and bringing the best out of our squad as we work to get our season back on track.”

Arteta said taking the job was a “huge honour” and Arsenal were “one of the biggest clubs in the world”.

He said: “We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke (owner and club director, respectively) and the senior people from the club.

“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it.

“I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy.”

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