WENGER: THIERRY & PAT CAN BOSS IT
UNAI EMERY has told Gunners fans it is too soon to sing “We’ve got our Arsenal back” as he said his team must improve to be title contenders.
Away supporters were delighted with the 5-1 thrashing of Fulham – their ninth successive win under the Spanish boss.
It also took Arsenal up to fourth place within two points of the leaders after two seasons finishing outside the Champions League places under Arsene Wenger.
But speaking before Monday’s home match with Leicester, Emery warned: “I am not agreeing totally with the response of the fans. I think we need to improve a lot. I think we have to continue doing a lot of the things to get better. Our demands need to be very high. “The supporters can enjoy it with us but also we’re speaking with our reality every day. We need to improve because as an example the match against Fulham was a very good result and a very good game for 90 minutes.
“But in the first 45 minutes, I thought we needed to do better. If we are remembering the last match at the Emirates against Watford, we won but not playing like we want – with the control against the opposition.
“For me now, the most important thing is not to rush. The next game against Leicester is very big, very difficult. We need every single player, and our mentality together to be stronger than in the last match.”
The Gunners lost their first two Premier League matches under Emery to Manchester
City and Chelsea. And he added: “We need to be calm as we beat a lot of opposition teams with very poor displays.
“We need to stay with the best teams in the Premier League.
And to stay with them, we need to do better and get HOW THEY STAND
P W D 8 6 2 8 6 2 8 6 2 8 6 0 8 6 0 8 5 1 8 4 3 8 4 1 8 4 1 8 4 0 8 3 3 8 2 2 8 2 2 8 2 1 8 2 1 8 1 2 8 1 2 8 0 3 8 0 2 8 0 2 Man City Chelsea Liverpool Arsenal Tottenham Bournemouth Wolves Man Utd Watford Leicester Everton Burnley Brighton C Palace West Ham Southampton Fulham Huddersfield Newcastle Cardiff better at different things. Our target now is the same as in the first matches.”
Emery said keeper Petr Cech was “very close” to returning from his hamstring injury, but Greece defender Sokratis was a doubt after picking up an ankle problem on international duty.
And he avoided questions on the chances of Aaron Ramsey getting another contract offer or leaving in January – six months before the end of his deal. “January is very far,” he said. “I’m thinking about Monday’s match. In football, the future is tomorrow. I explain to every player, I want the mentality for the next match.
“Individual things are not for me to speak about now.”
Arsenal’s Monday night game is followed by a Europa League trip to Sporting Lisbon next Thursday.
“I prefer to play Saturday or Sunday,” the Basque said. Pts 20 20 20 18 18 16 15 13 13 12 12 8 8 7 7 5 5 3 2 2 A 3 5 3 10 7 12 6 14 12 12 12 12 13 9 13 14 21 17 13 17 F 21 18 15 19 15 16 9 13 11 14 13 10 9 5 8 6 9 4 6 4 L 0 0 0 2 2 2 1 3 3 4 2 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 ARSENE WENGER has revealed his pride over Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira following him into football management.
“It makes me very happy because at least I have not put them off the job of coaching,” joked the former Arsenal boss.
Ex-Gunners striker Henry has started his first head coach role at Monaco this week.
And his old Arsenal team-mate Vieira (right) took over at Nice during the summer.
Wenger, 68, was back in action himself yesterday in a charity match in France where he played for an hour in a team alongside World Cup winners Didier Deschamps and Laurent Blanc.
And asked about Henry taking over at his former club Monaco, he said: “Him, like the others, can be proud of their achievements as a player and he can start as a coach at a high level.
“He will make his own way. He is very intelligent, he has the necessary qualities to succeed.
“After that you need to have good players, believe in them, have a bit of luck, and, above all, be in a favourable environment.
“Personally, I had this luck in all my clubs and I hope he is allowed to express himself and is given time. Because when you become a coach you think you are always going to win, but the good coaches are the ones who survive disappointments.”
Henry (above) takes over Monaco with the 2017 French champions in 18th place after winning only one match this season.
But Wenger told L’Equipe: “Only two clubs go down and there are no worries for Monaco with that squad. In football, you can never swear to anything, but nobody today can think Monaco will go down.”
Asked about his own future, Wenger said: “I have decided not to work before January.
“It was 35 years without stopping. Across the world, practically no one has done that. So the break was welcome.
“But my body, all my being is used to that. I like to win – I hate to lose. And where I find the most excitement is in football.”