Unai Emery demands major changes to Arsenal's campaign: Players in for a shock

Posted Thursday, August 16, 2018 by Express.co.uk

Unai Emery demands major changes to Arsenal's campaign: Players in for a shock
Unai Emery is known for his high-energy style of play (Image: GETTY)

UNAI EMERY has told his Arsenal players they are carrying too much fat and are not running far enough in matches as he attempts to turn the Gunners back into a Champions League outfit.

The former Sevilla and PSG coach has built his reputation on a high-energy style of play and has set rigorous targets for his performance team to achieve after another year in which Arsenal missed out on elite European competition.

He believes players need to lose on average 1.3kg of fat – nearly three pounds.

It is not that his players are overweight; the team led by Darren Burgess have been tasked with replacing that with 1.23kg of 'lean' mass – muscle.

There will be little scope for excess baggage with Emery demanding an extra 28.89km from each of his players this season. Over the course of 38 matches, that equates to an extra 760m per man, almost half-a-mile more every game.

Emery also wants to see what the club admits is a "historically poor" record of availability of players due to injury climb above 90 per cent – a target helped by the release of long-term sufferers Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere in the summer.

The Spaniard's Premier League campaign got off to the worst possible start as his side suffered a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.

Emery will be looking to put things right when his team take on Chelsea on Saturday but faces another selection headache when it comes to starting Petr Cech or Bernd Leno in goal.

At the other end of the pitch, Emery could decide to start Alexandre Lacazette after he impressed off the bench against the champions as time out.

And whatever decision the 46-year-old makes, former Tottenham star Jermaine Jenas has urged him to try different tactics than the ones used for the visit of Pep Guardiola's side.

He told Express Sport: "I think Arsenal are going to find it difficult.

"What will be interesting is Emery's line-up. I think playing against Manchester City will have opened his eyes a little bit as to what the top end of the Premier League is about.

"Not that he already didn't know it but I felt like that game was very much like 'I'm at home, I've got to impress the fans' [but] realistically they didn't have the team to do that.

"I'm guessing there will be a lot of changes. I'll be surprised if he goes with [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang and Ozil all playing.

"I can see one of them coming out because they need to be more solid.

"They can't be as wide as that against Chelsea because they will rip you apart as well."