Ramsey told to keep eye on ball
UNAI EMERY has ordered Aaron Ramsey to forget about his contract stand-off and focus on getting back in the team.
Ramsey met Emery last week after becoming concerned over whether he is in the new manager’s plans, having been substituted early against Manchester City and dropped against Chelsea last weekend.
His lack of involvement casts some doubt over whether Ramsey – who is in the final year of his deal with no sign of a breakthrough in talks – has a future under Emery.
The Gunners boss said: “I spoke with him last week. I said, ‘I want you focused only on training and only on the match, you show us the capacity to help the team’.
“The contract is another thing for his agent and the club but we want and I need his focus only on training, only on the match and on his performance each day.
“My focus is on the match and I want the player to be focused only on Saturday, so that our players give our supporters quality and energy.”
Emery also admits PierreEmerick Aubameyang needs to rediscover his form but has backed him to hit the goal trail before long. The striker missed two glorious chances during last Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Chelsea, which condemned the Gunners to back-to-back defeats in Emery’s first two games in charge.
Aubameyang, 29, is Arsenal’s record signing, having joined from Borussia Dortmund for £56million in January, and Emery feels he requires a confidence boost to start scoring this season.
“Aubameyang needs to find the confidence, then to score and score another,” he said. “Strikers need to be in the moment.”
The Gabon international certainly did not struggle in front of goal in the second half of last season, netting 10 times in just 13 Premier League outings. “I have given him my confidence with his work,” added Emery. “He is going to find goals. The first six months for him here were good and he was scoring goals last year, and I am sure he is going to do the same.”
Aubameyang has been preferred to Alexandre Lacazette in Emery’s opening two games, with the Frenchman coming off the bench. And with West Ham visiting Emirates Stadium today, Emery does not believe it is time to send out the duo as a strike partnership.
“We need to have the control with the possession, with the positioning on the pitch, with more players inside,” he said.
While Emery has asserted he wants “five captains” in his Arsenal team, West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini is struggling to pick even one.
Character will be vital when the two teams go head-tohead without a point between them after disappointing starts to the season.
While long-term Arsenal skipper Laurent Koscielny lifted spirits this week by returning to training after an Achilles injury picked up at the end of last season, Mark Noble will miss the clash due to a back problem.
And while earlier this summer Emery called for a handful of players to contest the armband, Pellegrini admits he is scratching his head over finding a new leader. “If Unai thinks five is OK, I don’t have any problem with that. The important thing is not to have the band, it’s to be a captain,” he said. “That’s why there are a lot of reasons to choose one – normally for the amount of years that they are here on the team. “But who will be captain without Noble? That’s a good question. It depends on the starting 11.” Marko Arnautovic captained the Hammers for 45 minutes during a pre-season friendly when Noble was rested, otherwise Pablo Zabaleta – who Pellegrini worked with at Manchester City – is a strong contender. Pellegrini’s prime concern is settling upon his strongest team and he warned fans may need to be patient until he finds the winning formula. “I don’t know if finding my best XI is closer or not,” he said. “If you review my career – at Villarreal, at Malaga, in Manchester – the first games that I managed were never good games. But as soon as we can win it would be better.”