Unai Emery says Arsenal will do everything they can to beat relegation-threatened Brighton on Sunday to give us a fighting chance of qualifying for the Champions League with a top four finish on the final day of the season.
After last week’s trio of defeats to Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester, we know that our fate is now out of our hands, however, after a topsy-turvy few weeks that have seen Sp*rs, Chelsea and Manchester United also drop points, the Spaniard isn’t giving up hope just yet.
“We need to win the next match and if we win against Brighton we are going to the last match against Burnley with the possibility to be in the top four,” he said after the Europa League semi-final first leg win over Valencia.
“It’s not in our hands, but we need to win our matches and the first is Sunday.
“It’s not easy to win each match – for us and for other teams – but the focus for us is to win against Brighton for different situations.
“We are going to play the last match at home. We are going the play the last match with Petr Cech, with Aaron Ramsey and also I think we want to finish at the Emirates with a victory.
“The first objective is to finish in the top four and it will give us the chance.”
He added: “I think we need to be very demanding, but sometimes with calm. We want to be in the CL and it’s first objective for us.
“We have the possibility in two ways. One is through the Premier League and the other is the Europa League. We are now fighting for the top four but we are with Tottenham who have some advantage, Chelsea and also Manchester United – very big teams and that’s giving us difficulty.”
Brighton could be safe by Saturday evening depending on Cardiff’s game with Palace but that’s won’t be any reason for us to feel cocky. Last week’s calamitous clusterfuck didn’t exactly come against sides fighting for safety or silverware.
Home. We are so much better there.
Just not against Palace ?
We have had so many chances to wrap up 4th, even 3rd. It was all in our own hands, and we fked up. Best thing with this team is to keep our expectations extremely low.
The under performing coach and players talk too much when they win a match . Can someone tell them to shut up and talk on pitch.
Under-performing? We’ve got more points at this stage of the season than last year, we’ve got a foot in the Europa League final and two ways of getting CL football even though our defence has been a shambles. If anything Emery has over-performed with this team.
We’re still underperforming — Emery is doing a fine job this year, considering it is his first and he is learning the game in the PL, but we’re one win, in all competitions, better than last season at the moment, a disastrous season in which we also reached a Europa semi-final and a League Cup final, and managed a 19-game unbeaten streak to start the season (and our stats indicate that we are giving up more chances and producing less chances than last season’s horror show). A few more wins and we’ll all be happy this season, but Emery has… Read more »
Can someone tell me what improvements Emery has made to this Arsenal team please?
More competitive in the matches against the so-called big 6. Which is a big difference after some of the embarrassments over the last few years. Don’t think he is used to the intensity of the games against lesser lights tho.
2018-2019
vs. City: L 0-2, L 1-3
vs. Chelsea: L 2-3, W 2-0
vs. Liverpool: D 1-1, L 1-5
vs. Tottenham: W 4-2, (L 0-2 League Cup), D 1-1
vs. United: D 2-2, (L 1-3 FA Cup), W 2-0
Totals: W3, D3, L4 (+2)
2017-2018
vs. City: L 1-3, L 0-3 (L 0-3 League Cup)
vs. Chelsea: D 0-0, D 2-2 (D 0-0, W 2-1 League Cup)
vs. Liverpool: L 0-4, D 3-3
vs. Tottenham: W 2-0, L 0-1
vs. United: L 1-3, L 1-2
Totals: W1 (+1), D3 (+1), L6 (+1)
Well, we have yet another chance: Spurs incredible–two straight reds against Brighton, and have to go to Everton without Son and Kane and possibly Sissoko.
They don’t go to Everton, they’re at home to them!
Anyway, just hope that Theo can repeat his scoring against Spuds and do us a favour.
1) Keep to back 3.
When we F’ed up last 3 matches it was when we switched to back 4.
2) Keep as many of the same players as possible as against Valencia.
Mustafi may have to go to Rback and Koscielny is 50-50 so maybe Mavropanos into back 3 but rest of the team should be obvious.
3) Keep track of danger of the day for those zonal offside traps during set pieces.
Don’t be so rigid. They know our system and its weakness.
Mustafi as a wong back ok…
If Watford take something from the Bridge in the 14:00 game, then 4th could be in our hands again come our kick off 16:30. Let’s see how big Troy Deeney’s cojones really are.
Good point Richie, I just wish we had beaten palace – who would have thought that winning just that game would have given us the advantage, what with ManUre, chavski and scum all fluffing their lines!!!
We are not likely to win the away game at Burnley.
A must-win, certainly, but I feel like some rotation is necessary, too. Iwobi and Mkhi surely will start, but who else? Would it be reasonable or too much of a risk to play Mavropanos and Jenkinson again? Elneny, I guess? And then I wonder what Emery’s plans are for Thursday–if he doesn’t plan on starting Ozil, use him against Brighton (but it’s not like there are many other options otherwise in midfield). Will he want to start Torreira or Guendouzi at Valencia? Obviously there are injury problems, but these last few weeks have really highlighted the need for improved depth… Read more »
Emile Smith Rowe Comes to
Mind eh
“Last week’s calamitous clusterfuck didn’t exactly come against sides fighting for safety or silverware.” Agree that it was a calamitous cluster-f, but Leicester and Wolves were/are fighting for places in Europe. Crystal Palace on the hand, that’s the real fuck in clusterfuck.
Just beat Brighton and see what falls.
You know what hurts the most looking at that pl table??…7 points is what we should of had from those 3 games! I’ll leave you to do the maths but sundays game would require just a draw ??
Finally some straight talking from the manager.
You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance.
2 peeps obviously have never played street fighter 2
Is Ryu a hoax too?
Double-Spursy at AFC Bournemouth. And they’ve lost Son for the last match as a result.
And here comes Aké….. thanks mate, thanks Sp*rs…. let’s do it!! COYG!!
Emery has done a lot og good stuff this season, but team selection against CP was rock bottom and might be the nail in the coffin for our top 4.
But, a win today and a draw/loss for Chelsea we’re in top 4 again. It might come to goal difference in the last match so if Chelsea draw today we need to really put Brighton to the at Emirates