Arsenal are set to begin their Premier League season under new head-coach Unai Emery.
Arsenal face a stellar Manchester City side at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Gunners will be looking to start a season of high expectations on a positive note. Unai Emery and Co. will be looking to claim the scalp of Pep’s side.
Prior to the match, Unai Emery addressed the media in the pre-match press conference. He was subject to several questions following the Premier League’s deadline day. The former Paris Saint-Germain boss was candid in his replies and spoke about the futures of Danny Welbeck, Carl Jenkinson, Joel Campbell and David Ospina.
Unai Emery has confirmed that Welbeck will stay at the club, but also added that regular playing time cannot be guaranteed. He also confirmed that David Ospina, Carl Jenkinson and Joel Campbell have been deemed surplus to requirements and are free to find new clubs until August 31.
“[On Thursday] the window closed here in the Premier League,” he said. “Today, we had a meeting with the players to close all the possibilities to bring more players. We only have three players: Carl Jenkinson, David Ospina and Joel Campbell, with the possibility to leave.
“But the other players are with us and we are going to work in the Emirates the day before the match with all the players. Only two young players are going today, to play tomorrow with the under-23s against Manchester City away. They are Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah. The others, they are with us and tomorrow we decide the group for going to the hotel and also the first 11 and the first 18 players.”
In spite of Arsene Wenger’s side finishing last season 37 points behind defending champions Manchester City, Emery is optimistic about his side’s chances of victory. He also described about the strange feeling of being Arsenal’s first new boss in over twenty years.
“We want to start well, we want to play and we want to show our quality, our work in this month tactically and with our spirit,” said Emery. “I want to show and to be together with the supporters and to start a new way, a new process. With the same players and also our new players with us, and with a new culture and new staff.
“We are working to improve each match and each training session. But Sunday, we need to show on the pitch our performance at a big level. The position is demanding our best moments tactically and also individually. It’s for that, that on Sunday I want first to be together with our supporters.
“It helps, if we’re together, for the players to show their best performance and to transmit with every supporter the quality, the energy and the spirit to go forward against Manchester City.
“It’s more easy to speak here than to do it on the pitch. City, I think, after two years of working with Guardiola they have more stability, more security and when you watch City’s matches, they are playing with a very, very great confidence in themselves. Also, I think that Guardiola’s coaching is clear in this team,” said Emery.
