EMERY: KEEP FANS HAPPY AND CARRY ON GOAL GLUT

ARSENAL boss Unai Emery has called on his side to continue their blistering scoring form in this evening’s Europe League clash with Sporting Lisbon. The Gunners are looking to stretch their winning run to 11 games and add to their tally of 11 goals in three games following Monday’s 3-1 win over Leicester, when their attacking play was breathtaking at times. Emery has demanded his team build on their growing reputation as entertainers. He said: ‘The scoring statistics for the players are very important, as they are for the supporters to be excited with many things on the pitch. Scoring goals is important for this spectacle. We want to score a lot, and with different players. I want our strikers to have a lot of chances but also to find the balance defensively.’ Arsenal look to be serious contenders for a place in the top four of the Premier League this season, which would book them a place in next season’s Champions League. But Emery, who won the Europa League three times with Sevilla, insists the club will not disregard the competition. The Spaniard is taking a fullstrength squad to Portugal, with Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in contention. Emery said: ‘It is a title to play for and when you win this competition you go to the Champions League. We are here to win.’ Defenders Carl Jenkinson and Sokratis Papastathopoulos are in the squad, with Nacho Monreal, Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles all unavailable. MESUT OzIL insists he still supports the German national team despite retiring from international football after their disastrous World Cup defence in Russia. The Arsenal midfielder was criticised in Germany prior to the World Cup when he and Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan, who are both of Turkish descent, were pictured with Turkey’s controversial president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.