‘We’ll push to give our fans a good match’

After back-to-back losses last week, we’re looking to get back to winning ways against Burnley on Saturday.

Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final was only the fourth time that we have tasted defeat this season, and Unai Emery has called for his side to respond with a big performance at Emirates Stadium.

Read on for his message to the fans and an update on our injured players:

on how important it is to produce a big performance on Saturday…

Each match is very important and when other teams are winning, they are not stopping, they’re improving. We need, after our defeat in Southampton, we need the three points. But I am happy with the players. I think at the Emirates we are continuing strongly and for example, in the last match against Tottenham on Wednesday, the spirit is very good. The players pushed and the players created the chances, and now we continue working on our efficiency to score. I trust in my players, I trust in our strikers, and tomorrow we need every supporter to help us. We are also going to push to give them a good match with energy, by playing well, and also with the three points in victory. We will play with a big respect for Burnley because they are a very good team with very good players. They played very well organised and also defensively they are very strong, and they have the personality to play with the long ball, the second action, a lot of crosses and have players with quality to score. This is a big match tomorrow.

on which injured players may be able to play against Burnley…

We know today, the latest news, and for example Mkhitaryan is out. Koscielny is okay but he played two matches this week and tomorrow will be a lot for him. We also need to be calm with him, to take time for a lot of matches before he continues playing. Sead Kolasinac, I think for tomorrow is okay. Players are continuing to recover with Sead. I don’t remember now. Mkhitaryan is out. Mustafi is also, for tomorrow, out too.

on whether Koscielny is being overplayed…

But I trust him and we have solutions for who can play in this position. For example, I read a little criticism for our midfielders like Xhaka playing centre back, but I am very happy with him because his mentality is a very big mentality. He helped us, and he played left back too sometimes and I think he played well. This reason, for me, is that I trust in another player and tomorrow we are going to play with the first 11 and other players in the bench with our performance. I think we’re in a good position to play against Burnley. With respect, but with believing in our work, in our possibilities in other players to play, like a centre back or a midfielder. Above all, I think the mentality is a very big mentality to help us. We have the players and they are playing out of position, like Xhaka and Lichtsteiner last week at Southampton.