Unai Emery says Arsenal’s nine-game winning streak is something upon which to build, not dwell, and he’s already looking ahead to the club’s next game against Leicester in 15 days time.
Two goals apiece from Alex Lacazette and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and an exquisite back-heel by Aaron Ramsey helped the Gunners to a 5-1 win away at Fulham as the Gunners climbed into the Premier League top four for the first time this season.
The travelling Gooners certainly enjoyed what they saw and as the goals flowed in the second half they chanted the Spaniard’s name with vigour. The coach now wants to carry the good vibes back to the Emirates when the players are done with the Interlull.
“I don’t want to look behind,” said Emery when asked about his team’s good run in his post-game press conference.
“I think every match is different, every match is very difficult. Yes, we are on the table, little by little, giving ourselves a better position for our ideas and our objectives.
“But I’m thinking of our match against Leicester, at the Emirates, our home, with our supporters.
“And I want to give them, when we are playing in our stadium, a special feeling with each match and show them we are playing with our quality, playing together with a winning mentality also.
“Above all, with the commitment and with the behaviour like today.”
On the buoyant mood on the terraces – the away support even sang “We’ve got our Arsenal back” – the Spaniard added:
“We need to fit together with the supporters, with the club and the players and this mentality is very important for us and to show them our quality and strong work.
“Then together we can be happy, like today. We need their support, and they support us at every match and away from home.
“Even today, it is in London, but it is away and I think the players on the pitch feel their support every moment of the 90 minutes.”
Game by game Emery’s players appear to be coming to terms with what’s being asked of them. Their confidence on the ball is improving and likewise their understanding of how they position themselves at key moments. That said, there remains plenty of room for improvement.
“When we are winning now, continuing in matches, we need to be in the same way,” he went on.
“I think our mentality: calm, work, enjoy and enjoy working, together as one thing with our supporters like today.
“But improving individually, improving collectively and also finding our best performance in each match and the combinations with the players and the system also. Because, we need to continue improving and we can.”
Can’t hide it. I’m feeling very optimistic about Unai, cautious, but still very optimistic.
If we can stop giving the opposition those many big chances, and keep the attack where it was today, oh man!
I love how he keeps emphasising the importance of winning, even more than the performance
Yes we can!
The most exciting part is there is still lot of improvement possible. If we continue like this, we’ll soon be a force for likes of City and Liverpool to reckon with! Good times ahead!
If we continue with the 4222, then I think we will be a very tough team to beat. The creative players we have showed that they can play as inverted wingers and we didn’t have any one player with a very low amount of touches today, that has to be because we played without a No.10, but rather had creative players coming inside while a striker with pace stretched play. I also loved how much better Holding has become with his range of passing. Some of Holding’s passes were intercepted, but the idea to play them will help him when… Read more »
This has been the best performance to date under Emery. Let’s go on winning, and go on improving
Definitely.
Ozil not on the pitch. Coincidence?
Yes. Definitely coincidence
Can you believe we’re only 2 points off the top? Madness. When Fulham scored I wasn’t even slightly worried, I knew we were gonna score, I had … wait let me make sure I say this word right… I had… confidence in the team. Not felt that in a while, in fact the last time I can recall feeling the same is when Wigan took the lead on the final day of the 05/06 season.
Totally agreed. I think if we can beat Liverpool in our next big match, the confidence would be next level and we might be able to maybe throw a title challenge. Just that challenge would be a massive acheivement even if we don’t eventually win it this season.
it actually scares me to death to even imagine winning the league. Like the nerves and excitement in the last few months would be hard to take haha.
Loved the win, and the win streak! I would take it easy with the rest, though. There are still 30 games to play…
Several observations : 1) It was the correct starting pick. Fulham came at us hammers and tongs. We needed to be physical and hard working today. Welbeck and Iwobi gave us that. BUT little Torreira got stuck in as well, Lacazette was 110% effort… no passengers today. 2) It was almost practically a 4-4-2. Welbeck and Lacazette doing the business applying pressure higher up and preying on their defense. Welbeck with a great knock down for the second, he has utility for us with his frame and power as he holds the ball up better than Auba. 3) As I… Read more »
Santi – work on succinct!
We really should have a word limit on responses – most of this is nonsense. We won. We won well. Enjoy it. The end.
WE ARE ON A GOOD H-WAY!
On the guardians minute by minute it was suggested an emery interview is just 200 random words in any order with little sense but actually his English has come a long way in just a few months
My feeling is that it won’t be until the early spring or maybe not even until next season when Emery finally has the defence playing the way he wants it, and will likely require at least another couples of purchases, However our attacking play is just getting better and better. Emery reads the game so well and seems to be a master tactician and when you add that to some of the great talent at his disposal and it could be exciting times ahead for us Gooners
Attack is the best defense.
The strikers need to be ruthless.
It looks that way bc we haven’t had that many opportunities but we are scoring with them.
These wins are really scary!! How dare you beautiful arsenal… what happened to the slow iwobi? I’m dreaming… someone has got to wake me up..
Leicester are without Morgan.. if we win that match, I’m drinking myself to sleep! 9 wins not even a draw? I’d like to have whatever they’re smoking right now! Quality stuff!
We should not be scared.
Just keep doing it. No one rates us.
But here we are in the mix and 2 points to leaders and only 8 games in…plus ahead of “revolutionary” Spurts on goal difference.
The happiest I have been after a match for a long time.
Thank you Arsenal!
Yeah we need more of these sort of wins not squeaky bum.
Great to see the players performing to potential and played to strengths.
Emery has simply dealt with the egos of these players with his no-nonsense style of management…just take a look @ the lacazete situation…@the start of the premier league campaign he found himself on the bench for 2 consecutive games I think…he started the 3rd game, by then the hunger was there…so he started scoring…same with torerria…after been on the bench for the opening 5games of the season he Started the 6th and he has been delivering good performances…Ramsey today also reacted to been hooked off in the last game with a goal..mkhitarryan also after being out of the eleven is… Read more »
Great man management.
They know he will ferret the best out of them and play to their strengths.
They know they have to work hard bc there is competition and he won’t hesitate to switch around. No one is protected.
Now, 5-1 is what you’d call a proper score-line befitting Arsenal FC. It’s just about time that the gunners begin putting “lesser team” to the sword.
Love that we kept pushing for goals, when it was clear they would come – almost like we recognised the goal difference was important, especially today to get ahead of Spudz.
Still worried about defensive issues with Scousers coming soon but less so each game.
We could have beaten Chelsea.
We can take Liverpool. They are overrated. Its a religion there. Some sort of second coming that hasn’t happened for almost 3 decades but the media pundits will have you otherwise. Gap is only 2 points.
This lesser team gave us a good scare first half. They were not want for physical endeavor and effort Fulham. It wasn’t an easy win. We had to wear them down but that’s what we have to do, gain psychological superiority by punishing teams even if they feel they are making supreme effort.
We have the tools up front to do that but we have to also have the gumption to work through first to get there.
It’s hard not to be hopeful about what Emery can achieve. It’s been a very impressive first few months. Long may it continue.
I didn’t think he would have the time to get it right over a year or two like media suggested. None of the pundits gave him a chance this season but I felt we had to be in the races close to leader by game 7. He achieved that and now we are actually starting to see the team gain confidence. That he is able to switch to 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 is largely bc he feels he has central mid (Granit/Torreira) sorted and we also have the option of Iwobi. I think (touch wood) we are now just starting to… Read more »
What’s most satisfying today is not the bevy of superb goals and how unforgiving we were. What was best from today is how we weathered the storm bc contrary to scoreline, they made it VERY difficult all first half. We had to stay resilient and work very hard and we constantly found a way through their physical press. That’s what most impressed me. And it wasn’t about one player, all the team worked hard and were selected largely for this. Mustafi came in with several huge tackles (which won’t be mentioned of course by some) Granit was largely solid working… Read more »
Unai Emery kinda looks like Tony Montana. He should’ve kept Santi Cazorla so he could sub him on and shout: “Say hello to my little friend!” from the sidelines.