DON’T JUMP THE GUN

Emery tells fans: You’ve not got your Arsenal back just yet.. there’s still some work to be done

UNAI EMERY has told Gunners fans it is too soon to sing “We’ve got our Arsenal back” as he said his team must improve to be title contenders.

Away supporters were delighted with the 5-1 thrashing of Fulham – their ninth successive win under the Spanish boss.

It also took Arsenal up to fourth place within two points of the leaders after two seasons finishing outside the Champions League places under Arsene Wenger.

But speaking before Monday’s home match with Leicester, Emery warned: “I am not agreeing totally with the response of the fans. I think we need to improve a lot. I think we have to continue doing a lot of the things to get better. Our demands need to be very high. “The supporters can enjoy it with us but also we’re speaking with our reality every day. We need to improve because as an example the match against Fulham was a very good result and a very good game for 90 minutes.

“But in the first 45 minutes, I thought we needed to do better. If we are remembering the last match at the Emirates against Watford, we won but not playing like we want – with the control against the opposition.

“For me now, the most important thing is not to rush. The next game against Leicester is very big, very difficult. We need every single player, and our mentality together to be stronger than in the last match.”

The Gunners lost their first two Premier League matches under Emery to Manchester City and Chelsea. And he added: “We need to be calm as we beat a lot of opposition teams with very poor displays.

“We need to stay with the best teams in the Premier League. And to stay with them, we need to do better and get better at different things. Our target now is the same as in the first matches.”

Emery said keeper Petr Cech was “very close” to returning from his hamstring injury, but Greece defender Sokratis was a doubt after picking up an ankle problem on international duty.

And he avoided questions on the chances of Aaron Ramsey getting another contract offer or leaving in January – six months before the end of his deal. “January is very far,” he said. “I’m thinking about Monday’s match. In football, the future is tomorrow. I explain to every player, I want the mentality for the next match.

“Individual things are not for me to speak about now.”

Arsenal’s Monday night game is followed by a Europa League trip to Sporting Lisbon next Thursday.

“I prefer to play Saturday or Sunday,” the Basque said.