With every bad result the clamour grows for Arsenal to dispense with their most successful manager. But who could possibly follow Arsène Wenger?

The answer may be found in France. Rémi Garde never made much impact as a player at Arsenal; signed on the same day as Patrick Vieira, he was always in the shadows and retired after three injury-hit seasons. But despite being a manager for just 18 months he is now second favourite with the bookmakers to replace Wenger, behind only Pep Guardiola.

Garde is largely unknown on these shores outside the Arsenal cognoscenti, but when Wenger was appointed in 1996 it was, for most, a case of “Arsène who?” And that turned out rather well.

Wenger, though, had a lot more experience than Garde, who took over at Lyons in June 2011.

It is what he has done since, as well as his links with Wenger and Arsenal, that have catapulted him into contention. Garde took control of a Lyons team which had lost its way in recent years after winning seven successive titles from 2001-2008. Claude Puel, the former Lyons manager, spent £125m over three years without success. Garde, who was on the coaching staff for several title-winning years but more recently was running the academy, stepped up with a brief to slash the budget, mainly by shifting non-performing “stars” and promoting youth. He has not only done that, he has also steered the team past big-spending Paris Saint-Germain and done it while cruising into the knockout stages of the Europa League. Lyons are in that competition because Garde just failed to secure a Champions League place last season, but his team did win the French Cup.