Emery riled by questions over Arsenal form

Unai Emery became frustrated by questions over Arsenal’s recent form ahead of their Premier League trip to Leicester City on Sunday. 

Back-to-back defeats at home to Crystal Palace and away at Wolves saw the Gunners slip to fifth in the table, a point behind Chelsea, leaving their hopes of a top-four finish out of their hands. 

Those losses came after a positive run in which Arsenal beat Napoli 3-0 on aggregate in the Europa League quarter-finals and battled to a 1-0 victory against Watford at Vicarage Road. 

And head coach Emery insists it is important to focus on their coming matches, not their previous ones, as they aim for just a fourth league win in 14 away matches. 

“We lost the last match and the one before but our focus is on the present and Sunday,” he said. “If we think negatively about the last two matches we can think positively about the matches we won against Watford and Napoli. Each match is a new test. 

“We need to be positive and recover the confidence in our work. We will be ready and confident. 

“I don’t want to speak about the last matches we lost. I don’t want to speak about the victory in Napoli and Watford. I only want to speak about the next match, to give my players enough information to be ready to play.” 

“It’s not time to find excuses. We have to look at the next three games where we need to win all three to get nine points. We’ll see if we can be in the top four. I trust my team 100 per cent, all of the players. I think we can do it.”@SokratisPapa5  pic.twitter.com/1uBxBEw2Ss

— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) April 25, 2019

When pressed on whether their form is a concern, particularly away from home, he replied: “How many times are you going to ask the same question? Maybe I need to change my words to say the same [thing]…” 

Emery hopes to have striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang available after he returned to training on Friday following a small sinus procedure. 

Aaron Ramsey (hamstring), Denis Suarez (groin), Hector Bellerin (knee), Rob Holding (knee) and Danny Welbeck (ankle) remain out of action.