Former Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert says the ridicule of Unai Emery during his time as Arsenal boss "was nonsense".
Emery is currently on course to lead Aston Villa to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League after a sensational season.
The 52-year-old was appointed Arsenal manager in May 2018 on a two-year deal, but he was sacked in November 2019 after not winning in seven games.
Despite the patchy form with Arsenal, Lambert has defended Emery's performance while at Arsenal.
Speaking to Betway, Lambert said: "I always thought that Unai Emery would be a good success for Villa because of what he's done.
"He wasn't a bad manager at Arsenal and everybody ridiculed him. This is a typical British reaction and you can't do that.
"Saying that nobody understands him and all that sort of nonsense, that never washes with me. You look at the guy's record, what he'd done in Sevilla before, it’s unbelievable.
"What he's done in his career and people think he isn’t a top manager just because of his time at Arsenal.
"So it doesn't surprise me how well Unai Emery has done, if Aston Villa can get into the Champions League, then it's brilliant for them and the manager."
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