Mental toughness behind Gunners revival, says boss
UNAI EMERY believes Arsenal’s ‘big mentality’ has lifted them above Tottenham in the Premier League for the first time since October. The Gunners are up to third after winning a 10th straight Premier League home game, equalling a record set by the Invincibles of 2003-04. Arsenal have finished below their north London rivals in the last two seasons and Emery knows there is work to be done before they can celebrate a power shift back to the Emirates. ‘The next step for us is Sunday against Everton, but we need to be consistent, stay together and continue our big mentality to impose ourselves,’ he said after last night’s 2-0 win over Newcastle. ‘Football can change, we need to be strong first and it still demands a lot of points. But we are feeling a good atmosphere here with our supporters. ‘We are playing consistently. We want to create that spirit, and confidence comes with these victories. ‘We know our target and it will be difficult. But we have a very good mentality, a big mentality with these players. This is the result of our hard work, of being consistent.’ Five of Arsenal’s last seven matches are away from home, where they have won just once since November. And Emery, who confirmed scorer Aaron Ramsey Ra should be fine for the th weekend after picking up a knock here, said: ‘We need ne to convince everyone we can be consistent away. We need to take the same performance pe away from ho home.’ Al Alexandre Lacazette, sc scorer of the second goal, sa said: ‘We are more co confident than last season an and everyone knows what we have to do. When you win a lot of games in a row, yo you get a lot of confidence.’ M Meanwhile, Rafa Benitez sa said defeat against teams s such as Arsenal is to be expected, given the disparity in the cost of their forward players compared to his own. ‘We have been talking about this the whole season. In the final third y you need £40-50-75million players,’ said the Newcastle boss. ‘You miss your chances in terms of passing in the final third and after that you have to defend against a team who have pace and quality, and who are very precise.’