Sokratis Papastathopoulos has singled Unai Emery out for high praise ahead of the Europa League final.
The Greek defender who came into Arsenal last summer has called Emery the best manager he ever played for. He explained how the Spaniard has had more impact on his development than former bosses, Jurgen Klopp and Massimiliano Allegri.
“He’s the best coach I [have] had in my career,” the 30-year-old told The Guardian. “That’s because I have improved a lot under him. I play faster than one, two or three years ago. I think more and I make better decisions and his coaches do a lot of individual work with us. You can also see that because of the number of young players coming through.”
Sokratis certainly has had his challenges cut out for him this season. He is their best defender and the only leader in what seems to be a very poor Gunners backline. If it would not have been for the ex-Dortmund star, Arsenal could have seen the end of even more misery this season.
Both Sokratis and five other signings have pushed the Gunners to the finals of the Europa League. The match is due to be held this Thursday in Baku and the only fit player to be missing out will be Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
“Chelsea has a good team. Very good players. We respect them. We are not afraid,” Sokratis added. “It’s one game. One final. We like to be there. We like to win. We want to play next year in the Champions League.”
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