It has been a big summer for Arsenal, signing the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney and David Luiz. However, it appears that gaffer Unai Emery is still afraid to go up against European Champions, Liverpool.
Unai Emery failed to get his Arsenal squad into Champions League competition last year, placing fifth in the league table. This year looks to be like a different story as the Gunners have started out by winning two out of two to Newcastle and Burnley. However, their third game is Liverpool at Anfield, and Unai Emery admitted it is not a place he enjoys going to.
According to Sky Sports, he had the following to say on the matter,
"“For us we don’t want to play against Liverpool ever,” he joked after Saturday’s 2-1 win over Burnley. “We’d prefer not to play against them.”"
The comments are interesting from the manager, as you would think that he would be trying to motivate his squad in preparation for next Saturday. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang seems fairly confident in his team’s chances as he went on Instagram Live with AFTV and said the team wants revenge for last year at Anfield.
For those of you who remember, Liverpool battered Arsenal 5-1 at Anfield. After Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored to kick off the game, Jurgen Klopp’s men went on a barrage led by Roberto Firmino who cut through their defense like a hot knife through butter, bagging a hat trick. Mo Salah and Sadio Mane also scored against the team from the Emirates Stadium.
It will be an extremely difficult task of stopping the Liverpool front three for Unai Emery. With Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney still out because of injury, he can expect Klopp to use the wings with Salah and Mane to attack one of their weak spots.
Arsenal have to turn around and play Tottenham next weekend as well, which could send them sputtering down the table if they were to get a pair of bad results. It will be a challenge for Unai Emery, we all know he has what it takes, but is he too scared to execute it?