LEGEND BACKS EMERY STAYERS

UNAI EMERY is being hailed for giving Arsenal staying power.

The Gunners boss has overseen an impressive 14-game unbeaten run after his reign began with defeats by Manchester City and Chelsea.

Second-half improvements by Arsenal have been a regular feature in their sequence of games without defeat.

And that continued on Saturday when they rescued a point against Liverpool with a late Alexandre Lacazette equaliser.

The clash against Jurgen Klopp’s title contenders was considered an acid test of Arsenal’s progress under Emery (right).

And the final outcome, especially after going behind, was an encouraging one.

Gunners legend Nigel Winterburn (above) said: “What Unai Emery has done to this team is he has made them stay focused, made them stay competitive, the performance may not be perfection, but they’re hanging in there in games.

“They may be drawing, they may be that goal behind, but they’re staying in there right to the end and then they’re coming through very strong with great mental belief.

“Again at the weekend that’s exactly what happened. They stayed in the game and obviously Lacazette’s finish was terrific.

“It looks like the whole squad are really behind the new manager and what he’s trying to achieve.”

Arsenal are aiming to make it 15 games without defeat against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League tomorrow.

Emery’s side are top of Group E and three points clear of Sporting after a 1-0 win in Lisbon a fortnight ago.

Another victory will see them seal their place in the knockout stages with two games to spare.

Arsenal face a Sporting side led by caretaker manager Tiago Fernandes at the Emirates.

He has been put in temporary charge following Jose Peseiro’s sacking.

Peseiro was in charge for the first meeting against the Gunners, but axed last week after the Lisbon side were dumped out of their league cup by secondtier

Estoril.