Arsenal legend Paul Merson has urged the club to put rivalries with Tottenhamaside by appointing Mauricio Pochettino as Unai Emery's replacement.
The Spaniard is under increasing pressure at the Emirates following Saturday's 2-2 draw with Southampton and a failure to beat Norwich on Sunday could cost him his job.
Arsenal stuck by Emery through the international break but watched on as neighbours Spurs sacked the popular Pochettino and replaced him with Jose Mourinho.
Despite club rivalries, even the most ardent of Arsenal supporters would admit the fantastic job Pochettino did at Spurs and Merson believes he's the right man to take Arsenal forward.
'Arsenal should go for Mauricio Pochettino. He's not won anything, but he improved Tottenham over five years, tenfold. He's a top manager and he is about at the moment,' Merson told Sky Sports.
'I know he managed at Tottenham, but George Graham had been at Arsenal when he went the other way. You've got to get past that sort of stuff. These top managers don't come along too often, where you don't even have to pay anything for them.
'Can I see it happening? No. Should it happen? Yes. But it won't happen. The days of the rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham are not what they were. When I was growing up, it was the big football match.
'For some of these players, that's no longer the case. It's probably Chelsea or Manchester City or Liverpool. It's not the highlighted fixture anymore as there's not a lot of home-grown players in the teams.'
The Arsenal board fear sticking by Emery could lead to a 'mass exodus' as the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are believed to be considering their futures.
Nevertheless, Arsenal's board want to give Emery until at least the end of the season in the hope that he can turn it around.
And Merson believes if Emery was to be sacked midway through the campaign then the club would have done it by now.
'I still see Emery being there for a while,' continued Merson.
'They had a chance to get rid of him before the international break.They looked at the fixtures and saw Southampton at home, Norwich away.
'They thought they would win both and everything would be rosy in the garden again. But they were fortunate to draw with Southampton with some of the chances they had, and they'd lost 9-0.'
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