Unai Emery says he’s looking forward to Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea and laid the gauntlet down to his players by saying they need to prove themselves to the fans.
The Gunners have only taken seven of a possible 18 points from our last six Premier League games, losing three times away from home after embarking on a 22-game unbeaten.
The downturn in form has seen us fall six points adrift of Saturday’s opponents leaving our hopes of a top four finish hanging by a thread. A win against the Blues is a necessity.
“I think Saturday is a big test and our first objective is to be in the top four,” Emery told his pre-game press conference.
“It’s more difficult after our defeat against West Ham but we can take positives, like if we win on Saturday. It’s a good test and challenge.
“A win will take us closer to them. This will take us one step closer to our objective and this is the test. Over 38 matches some are small finals and Saturday for us is a small final.”
On what he wants to see from his squad, Emery went on: “The victory, firstly. Victory first but I think we are doing two different performances, at home and away. We want to find the balance between the two moments.
“First, we are going to go game-by-game and Saturday we are at home and I think we are doing very big matches with big confidence with our supporters and I want the same spirit and the same performance on Saturday against Chelsea.
“It’s a difficult, tough match and I think it’s a good test for us also. We wanted to go into this match with three points difference in the table, but our defeat at West Ham doesn’t give us this possibility.
“But Saturday, I am looking forward to playing this match because I want to look at my team, our team, playing with a good performance and also to show our supporters we can do more and we can do better than we are doing away.”