Arsenal are prepared to take their time in finding Unai Emery's successor and are convinced they can trust Freddie Ljungberg to turn their season around in the meantime.
Ljungberg was appointed interim manager following the sacking of Unai Emery and has already set about appointing his coaching staff who will be confirmed prior to Sunday's visit to Norwich City.
In the meantime a quartet of key Arsenal figures have begun the process of finding a permanent successor to Emery. Head of football Raul Sanllehi, technical director Edu, chief negotiator Huss Fahmy and managing director Vinai Venkatesham will be responsible for assessing the candidates before making a recommendation to the board.
Mikel Arteta and Massimiliano Allegri are among the options who Arsenal will consider whilst they have also been linked with Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Nuno Espirito Santo, Leicester's Brendan Rodgers and Napoli's Carlo Ancelotti. All three of the latter could prove to be challenging to extricate from their club in mid-season, as could Manchester City assistant Arteta.
football.london understands Arsenal intend to carry out a similarly thorough recruitment process to that which they went through to appoint Emery and will want to interview candidates before making any decision. Following Arsene Wenger's departure in May 2018 they spoke with eight candidates before alighting on Emery.
A process as lengthy as that, which lasted over a month, could potentially mean Ljungberg is in charge for several games over the festive period. There will certainly be no rush from Arsenal and if they have to wait for the right man to become available they will do so.
For all the work required to improve the current squad Arsenal remain a hugely attractive prospect in world football, a major club in a global metropolis with a huge fanbase both locally and internationally.
In the meantime Arsenal are convinced that Ljungberg, who led his first training session with the squad at 11am this morning, can lift the mood at the club and the interim head coach offered a rallying cry to his struggling squad after Emery's departure was confirmed.
On appointing Ljungberg as an assistant coach in the summer the Arsenal hierarchy were aware that he may at some stage be required to step into the void, particularly as so many of the other members of first-team staff had come with Emery.
Should Ljungberg perform well enough on an interim basis then the 42-year-old could be considered for the role permanently. Arsenal, though, are determined to take a level-headed, rational decision when it comes to appointing their next head coach.
Emery and his coaching staff arrived at London Colney as normal this morning but were informed by Sanllehi that they would be leaving the club. They are understood to have responded in a respectful manner that club sources say is typical of the way the Spaniard and his team have approached their tenure at Arsenal.
Prior to Ljungberg Sanllehi, Edu and Venkatesham all addressed the squad with the quartet taking around 10 minutes to get their messages across.
Ultimately Emery's tenure ended with a 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday night but the decision to remove the head coach had already been made beforehand in the aftermath of Saturday's 2-2 draw with Southampton. Sanllehi and Venkatesham flew to America for pre-planned talks with Josh and Stan Kroenke where the decision was agreed.
Emery was unaware that his fate had already been decided when he took charge of the defeat to Frankfurt but he and his staff took the club's decision with grace and understanding.
