Unai Emery was a happy man after our 2-0 win at Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon, thanking the fans for their support, praising Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s mental strength and assessing the state of play in the race for the top four.
Here’s every word from his post-match press conference:
on whether that’s our most complete performance…
I don’t know if it’s the best performance this season. I think we’re improving and also I think we’re being competitive in different matches, away from home and against different teams. We responded and sometimes you’ve seen different systems and different players, but above all we can feel today very proud of every player. Above all I want to say thank you to our supporters because they helped us a lot and we can create a big atmosphere like today for the next matches and for Thursday. I think it’s very important. The players did very well with a very big spirit and big commitment for the work we’ve done.
on Aubameyang taking the penalty after missing against Tottenham…
He has experience and he’s taken a lot of penalties. Sometimes scoring and sometimes missing, but the most important thing is that it’s one action on the pitch. He has personality and confidence and I had the same confidence today like last week. For me it’s not one mistake when he didn’t score, it’s one action. The goalkeeper can save it also.
on whether he discusses the penalty order with the players…
Here we have some different players who can shoot penalties - and through their careers they’ve scored goals through penalties. Aubameyang has experience and he’s a specialist with scoring. Lacazette can also shoot and today I had the same confidence with both.
on whether it was a penalty…
Soft, it was like last week. Against Tottenham they gave a penalty against us and today they gave a penalty against Manchester for us. I think we can be happy.
on Granit Xhaka’s goal…
I think each player has their qualities and one big quality you know better than me because you are watching more matches before, from the players and from Arsenal. I’ve only been here one year and Xhaka is a specialist with shooting and he can shoot from different positions on the pitch. He can shoot far from the goal but his shooting is very dangerous usually. Today he tried to shoot and he scored but I think he can do more and can try like he did today in each match.
on a fan running onto the pitch and pushing Smalling…
I don’t want that, but it’s not in my control. I think we can enjoy this with every supporter and today I’m very proud of every supporter who helped us, but I think we need to do this with respect.
on whether he’s spoken to Josh Kroenke…
No, I didn’t speak with him but I know he’s here. Maybe tomorrow we can meet.
on the race for the top four…
We were positive when we were struggling in the table and we took balance in our mind when we were worse - and now after these victories we can be positive, but it won’t change our idea. We need to continue and it will be difficult, and our style and way and thinking will be game by game. We’re in two competitions now, the Premier League and also the Europa League. We are going to play the next match here against Newcastle in three weeks and that’s a lot. Our focus now is Thursday. We are happy today, we are going to analyse the match and also in the table we are better, but Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham are with us. We are going to play some difficult matches and being consistent is very important. At the moment I think we are playing consistent in each match and today we showed everybody that. We were calm, showed passion and continued improving. We know that for example on Thursday one match can change a lot with one red card or goal, so controlling our emotions is very important. We need to keep this consistency in our mind.
on keeping clean sheets…
Yes, keeping clean sheets is very important. And also it’s very important to use different systems and different players so we can take the same performance and same victory. Not always a victory like against Tottenham last week, but with the good feeling and good combinations with the players on the pitch over 90 minutes. We are improving and we are feeling better with big confidence, but we need each match to push and work for continuing to feel this confidence with victories.
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