Emery desperate to leapfrog Tottenham

UNAI EMERY says he has made finishing above Tottenham one of Arsenal’s targets.

Emery’s men host the first north London derby of the season, having trailed their local rivals for the last three campaigns.

Son Heung-Min stoked up the atmosphere by saying Spurs “don’t actually care” about Arsenal any more.

But Gunners boss Emery said: “Our capacity and their capacity is very similar.

“Last year they did better in the table than us. Our challenge is to have the possibility to become better this year than them.

“I’m looking forward to seeing our team and our supporters, how we can respond, how we can do in that test against them.

“Our one challenge at the beginning of the season is to have that fight in each match against Tottenham.”

Emery also said the door is open for Mesut Ozil to regain a regular Arsenal spot.

The German has not played a single minute this season, for a variety of reasons, but he is in line to feature at the Emirates tomorrow. “We need him to be consistent in training and to be available in each match,” said Emery.

“Last week he wasn’t ready to play at Liverpool. He is getting better with each training session. We need him because he is a different player in our team and he can help us with his quality.”

Getting the best out of playmaker Ozil is rarely straightforward but the Spanish coach was philosophical about his task.

“It’s not in my control,” said Emery. “We are speaking a lot with every player, especially with him about whether he is not ready to play, if he is sick.

“We are here to help and support him and to demand he is ready for training because we need him this year.”

Emery’s men will face Eintracht Frankfurt,Vitoria and Standard Liege in the Europa Cup group stages after yesterday’s draw, with their game against Portugal’s Vitoria scheduled for 3.50 pm on a Wednesday afternoon.