MOURA OUT TO AVENGE EMERY SNUB THIS IS OUR MOMENT IN THE SSON
Arsenal Tottenham
Emirates Stadium, Sunday, KO 2.05pm
v IF Tottenham stuff Arsenal on Sunday no one will be happier than Lucas Moura.
The Brazilian is keeping his anger in check ahead of his north London derby showdown with Gunners boss Unai Emery.
But Moura is hungry to make his point after being forced to quit Paris Saint-germain for Spurs in January. He had been frozen out by Emery following the arrival at the French club of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
Since then Moura – who won four Ligue 1 titles, three French Cups and four League Cups with PSG – has impressed under Mauricio Pochettino in N17.
Emery had to fall on his sword at the end of last season after a failed European campaign with the French champions, but has since revived the Gunners.
Moura insisted he now intends to allow his football to do the talking.
“I believe in my talent,” he said. “In my quality. I try to show it – him – at Spurs.
“I forget the last five or six months I had at PSG. I like to think about the four years when I was very happy there and won a lot of trophies.
“The last year was to learn and to grow up. Now I think I’m more experienced and stronger.”
Asked whether Emery had ever explained why he was not being played, Moura added: “No. I need to respect the decision of the coach.
“I know it’s difficult for him. I’ve nothing against Unai, I respect him, he’s a very good coach.” (Prem) (FA Cup) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (FA Cup) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) (Prem) GYLFI SIGURDSSON insists Everton are confident they can finally end their Merseyside derby hoodoo.
The Toffees have gone eight years and 17 games since their last derby success when Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill scored in a 2-0 win at Goodison Park in October 2010.
But boss Marco Silva is leading a Blues revival and Sigurdsson says they will relish facing Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday in the 232nd derby because of their fine draw at Chelsea in their last away game.
“I think all the boys have been looking forward to the derby since the start of the season and that feeling has grown with the performances we have been putting together over the past couple of months,” said the Iceland star.
“We can take some confidence from the way we played at Chelsea.
“That was a good result because we backed it up by winning the next game against Cardiff.
“The team is playing really well and getting results – and we’re grinding out wins when we’re not playing our best football.
“We dealt with a very tough and scrappy game on Saturday against Cardiff and we’re happy with the past few weeks.”
Sigurdsson, 29, has scored six goals and made two assists this season to help Everton climb into the top six after a run of just one defeat in seven league games.
“Things are looking good,” he said. “We’ve been working very hard since day one under the manager and we are putting together some very good results.
“Sunday is another very big game for us. We want to make it a good one and we will be ready for the challenge.”
Liverpool insist the derby is the perfect way to bounce back from the disappointing performance against PSG in the Champions League.
There is no time to obsess about their form or lack of a goal threat away from home in Europe (with just one shot on goal in 270 minutes of European travel).
And Kop star James Milner said: “It is what the best teams do, bounce back. We have a big game, so that helps. I think it’s going to be a good match, the atmosphere will be good and that will help.
“As players, we should be able to bounce back either way, but it is a nice game, and derbies are always great games to play in.
“Everton are on an OK run as well, so it’s going to be a tough game. It’s down to us to continue our league form and bounce back.”