Bastia vs Paris St Germain - Unai Emery: Plenty of hard work ahead for PSG

New Paris St Germain boss Unai Emery accepts there is plenty of hard work ahead if his squad are to keep their winning habit and dominate Ligue 1 again this season.

The French treble winners may have seen both coach Laurent Blanc and talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic depart over the summer, but there will be no less demand for success from Emery's new-look PSG, the club having claimed some 11 trophies in the past three years.

They head to Corsica for the Ligue 1 opener against Bastia on Friday evening, and Emery knows what expectation levels will be from the moment the team run out at Stade Armand Cesari.

"I understand that I am at a big club with great players and that winning is the habit here," Emery said at a press conference quoted on the club's official website, www.psg.fr.

"The challenge is to continue winning, both for me and the players... to remain consistent and become one of the best teams in Europe.

"The club has been pretty consistent over the last few years, but we need to keep working.

"The league is great for working on consistency; this is a tough league, but you have a chance to work hard and that's what we have to do if we want to keep improving.

"Bastia will come at us with a lot of intensity and it has been our task to prepare ourselves for victory.

"It is a great trip to make, with motivation, ambition and passion."

Emery - who left Sevilla following a third straight Europa League success - confirmed neither striker Edinson Cavani, defender Thiago Silva nor forward Jean-Christophe Bahebeck were expected to be in contention for the opening match.

However, summer signing Jese Rodriguez could feature in attack, having joined from Real Madrid, as could fellow new recruit Hatem Ben Arfa, along with midfielder Grezgorz Krychowiak, who followed Emery from Spain, while goalkeeper Alphonse Areola will compete for the number one jersey with Kevin Trapp.

"All the players in our squad are important. The competition is healthy and needs to be in order to have positive effects," Emery said.

"Certain players aren't yet completely ready to play, as they joined the pre-season relatively late. I want a team with competition. The season will be long, and you need to keep the players in a competitive mentality."

Despite their recent dominance of French domestic football, Emery maintains there can be no room for complacency.

"I have a lot of respect for all the teams I play against. I know the fervour in Bastia, and they will be doing all they can to beat us. It's always tough to play there," he said.

"Even though Bastia haven't had a huge pre-season, I am still wary.

"I know quite a few of their players so I know that, on an individual level, Bastia are very strong.

"We will have to prepare well, go there with a lot of respect and stay focused.

"Our ambition is to keep improving on what we have done over the last few weeks."

Bastia captain Annick Cahuzac is targeting an upset.

"We are used to creating the surprise, so we will try to give ourselves the maximum confidence for the rest of the championship," he said, quoted on www.sc-bastia.corsica.

"To take at least a point against Paris would be great for us."