Whilst statistics show that at this stage of the campaign we’ve picked up our best points tally for five seasons, Shkodran Mustafi is only focused on one thing – a top-four finish.
The 26-year-old believes that we’re moving in the right direction under Unai Emery, but he knows that there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
“I think statistics are something for people who like them and talk about them,” Mustafi said. “If you’re not going to make it into the top four, it doesn’t count for anything.
“For us, statistics are something that we leave on the side. We try to focus on what’s on at the moment. We’re not where we want to be, so we have to work and get there.
“I think we’ve done well and have done that in a few games better than others, but I think we’re still in a transition to become a team who are confident of playing the same way both home and away.
“I think we try our best to get to where we want to be: a team that is confident of playing, keeping possession, who likes to play forward, likes to score goals. It’s something that we try our best to improve.
“It would be great for the team [to finish in the top four] because we have a lot of young players who are very keen to play in the Champions League again. Obviously a club like Arsenal belongs in the Champions League as well. For everyone it’s going to be a big achievement.”
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.