Arsenal manager Unai Emery believes that there is nothing wrong with the team’s mentality despite their horrendous away form lately.
Arsenal have played 8 away games this season but have won only two of them. Those two wins have come against Huddersfield Town and Blackpool. Arsenal even lost an away game to BATE Borisov. Arsenal are the only Premier League team who haven’t managed to keep a single clean sheet away from home.
The Gunners now have two back to back away games to play against Watford and Napoli. They play Watford tonight.
Watford have gone unbeaten in their last 7 home games across all competitions and are yet to suffer a home defeat in 2019.
Speaking ahead of the Watford game, Unai Emery said, “We are playing to be in the top four. We are showing we are competitive with a good mentality. We need to continue improving with the process. I cannot do it (with a click of my finger).
It’s a process but this team has a good mentality. We are improving, the table is giving us this answer. You can say two things. There is an amazing response at home, amazing. Big matches and big results, really, really awesome.
Away we are sometimes doing good matches but in other moments the opposition is being more competitive than us.”
Regarding Arsenal’s away form, Emery said, “First the answer is natural. Usually every team takes more points at home than away. For us it is about being competitive.
We were improving our away points and performances from last year. We were being very competitive with different players and systems at home. Away we are not consistent in each single match to take the three points with a big performance. Each match is a big opportunity, Watford is the same. Their support and quality will push us. We need to prepare defensively hard and strong, like we are at home. In the attacking moments we have to use the best possibilities to find chances to score.”
After tonight’s match at Vicarage Road, Arsenal travel to Naples to play Napoli in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie. Arsenal already have a 2-0 advantage heading into the second leg.
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