New managers Emery and Pellegrini scrap for first point

FILE PHOTO: West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini gestures during the Liverpool v West Ham United match at Anfield, Liverpool, Britain on Aug. 12, 2018 . Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine

LONDON (Reuters) - When Manuel Pellegrini and Unai Emery were appointed within a day of each other in May, neither could have envisaged that when their teams met for the first time three months later West Ham United and Arsenal would be joint bottom and pointless.

Two games is no measure of a season, and both were handed the hardest possible opening fixture, but their poor starts have given Saturday's derby at the Emirates an unexpected edge as each scrambles to kickstart a response.