Unai Emery says that the six Premier League fixtures Arsenal will play in April will be key for the club’s Champions League hopes next season.
As it stands, it’s in our hands, and a win tonight over Newcastle will move us up into third place following Sp*rs absolutely Spursing it up against Liverpool at Anfield yesterday, and the Arsenal manager is keen for his players to grasp that opportunity.
Speaking ahead of our first league game in 22 days, Emery told Sky Sports, “In April, we are playing in a lot of matches and it is the key for our season.
“We finished very well both in the Europa League and Premier League before the international break, but in each match, we need to give a big focus and every player must be ready to give their best performance for us
“Our mentality now is good, but every match will be giving us a new challenge. Being together I think we can be stronger.
“We have a big possibility to play next season in the Champions League. We have been consistent because the players have given a big commitment and good behaviour to give the club our best work.”
Tonight’s game sees two Spanish coaches go head to head, and Emery had words of praise for opposite number Rafa Benitez.
“I have a lot of respect for him because for me”, he said, “and all other coaches – he is a big reference.”
Newcastle are still in need of points, so tonight is not going to be easy, but fingers crossed we can get this daunting run of games off to a good start.
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Glad our first game in ages is at home.a win tonight will get us all buzzing and set us up nicely for the crazy April fixtures. 3rd place awaits! Coyg
Where’s the joke article! We want the joke article right now!
The coming games are probably the most important sequence that the club has had in some time, given the new coach, the financial problems etc. A last gasp own goal by the Spuds (ho, ho) rescued what would have been a disappointing weekend of EPL results and we must build on that starting with Newcastle tonight. No stupid bookings or, worse, sending’s off, no schoolboy-type defensive errors, and let’s keep any Superhero masks in the changing room! We’ve lacked the overall consistency in 2019 that we’ll need in the remaining games for a top four finish. So, it’s the start… Read more »
If the superhero mask comes out it means Auba scored a big goal. I’ll have a bit of that thank you very much!!!
Let’s not get complacent and play with a lot of determination and win big tonight. COYG ?
3 points are critical tonight. Some folks seem to think we have the easiest run-in from the teams fighting for the CL spots; but 5 out of our last 7 games are away from home. Playing devils advocate, how many points can we realistically expect at Everton, Wolves, and Leicester? The draw at Spurs was a fantastic performance but before that away from home it was a laboured victory over Huddersfield and defeats at Nantes, Borisov, West Ham. Mustafi v Rondon worries me tonight but I fancy us to score at least 2.
I don’t think we have an easy run-in. If we’d been beating teams well, home and away, in 2019 there would be grounds for saying that, but we haven’t been consistent. An example is the draw against the Spuds you mention. We were leading, but were unable to grind out what would have been a key away win and losing two points in the process (how valuable a cushion would they be now?!). We need to rectify this in the games to come – particularly away from The Emirates. P/S: Mustafi always worries me. He’s OK occasionally but poor overall… Read more »
We played well against Spurs away. Auba didn’t score the penalty that would have given us 3 points. We’ve played well recently admittedly at home but we seem to be more like a team and that was something that was prevalent during the 22 unbeaten run…however, back then the players were still learning how Emery wanted them to play which was why some of the performances weren’t that good. Hopefully now they know what he expects and they have that team mentality, we can for once start to play like a team that should be in the CL.
You sound just like me, Richie!
I don’t buy into this “easy run-in” bullshit, either. Our away form in all competitions has been rubbish all season. I think we’ll sweep Newcastle away tonight with no problem; but I can see us struggling at those away grounds. The positive thing is that the wheels have come off at Spuds and the Chavs are crap (outrageous officiating at Cardiff yesterday gave them a victory they didn’t deserve) so we can drop points and still nick fourth.
But it’s going to be tight.
I’ll be fair and say Newcastle can have all the points they want off of everyone else.
3 points tonight please. Sunday will be tough, Everton have hit some form, but we have it in us to beat them. A good win tonight will really help.
I’m just looking forward to watching Arsenal again, been ages. On that note, can anyone recommend a reliable place to stream the game? Been really struggling to find one recently and I cannot describe the rage I feel when streams buffer/pause, it does my head in. Help!
CR7 streams but “free” streams will always be shit. Im going down to the pub for this one! It feels like months since the last game. COYG!
Let’s hope the fat Spanish waiter will bring three points to our table. Three sweet delicious points. Por favor.
It’s like a cup final today.
How about them spuds spudsing it all up for themselves yesterday? Gotta love them for that.
Other than that, let’s have three points tonight. Let’s stomp Newcastle good and proper with a confidence boosting 5 goal win.
Ref was shite but the boys did well!