|
LONDON -- Arsenal coach Unai Emery is confident that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's scoring form will return quickly as long as his teammates continue creating chances. Aubameyang, Arsenal's record signing, was guilty of a glaring miss in the first half against Chelsea on Saturday when he fired over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Moments later, Chelsea made it 2-0 and Arsenal lost 3-2 for their second straight defeat to start the Premier League season. They now badly need a win against West Ham United on Saturday and Emery said the goals will come as long as his team sticks to their philosophy. "I am sure they are going to score if we create a lot of chances in the game," Emery said at a news conference on Thursday. "Maybe the players cannot score three good chances in one match and on another day, I am sure they are going to do maybe the same chances in one match and score three. Aubameyang is a player who, in his career, has scored a lot and he is going to do that here also." Emery wants to see a different type of performance than against Manchester City and Chelsea, though, saying his team were not able to control the game as much as he would have liked against those opponents. The new head coach wants to play a similar possession-based style deployed by his predecessor, Arsene Wenger, but with a more aggressive high press when they are without the ball. "In the two first matches, we didn't have the control enough -- only in some moments," Emery said. "Saturday is another match. Tactically, it will be different. It will be demanding and I want to have more control to find the win in this match." Emery said he will continue using two different formations depending on the opponent -- either a 4-3-3 as against City or a 4-2-3-1 like he used at Chelsea -- but that he is not about to play with two strikers up front, even though that would allow him to pair Aubameyang with Alexandre Lacazette. "At the moment, I think we need to have the control with the possession, with the positioning on the pitch, with more players inside," Emery said. "And after this possession, to do the attacking moments and defending moments with this balance. But, it is one possibility to continue in our progress and in one moment to try also to play with two scorers." Jack Wilshere will return to the Emirates as an opposing player for the first time on Saturday, alongside former Arsenal forward Lucas Perez and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. Wilshere opted to leave Arsenal this summer after Emery told him he would not be a regular starter, but Emery said he expects the longtime fan favourite to get a great reception from the crowd. "The first thing for me is I have respect for his career here. And then, he chooses what the best was for him in his future," Emery said. "I know that here, the supporters like him and have this respect also. I think there is a good reception for him here. Then we are going to play and we are going to think after that, for us to win. But, I [hope] the best for his career." Emery also said captain Laurent Koscielny, who returned to Arsenal's training ground in London Colney this week to continue his recovery from a torn Achilles tendon, is running outside again but his return date is still considered to be in November. However, Emery said Koscielny can still have a positive impact on the dressing room with his presence. "We are happy to have him here with us, because he's our captain and he's showing us his spirit to stay with us," he said. "We need to be patient with him because the injury was an important injury. It's clear that it's very important to stay with us, working here and showing us that he wants to help us. "It's difficult to know [when he might play]. You look at this morning, he's running, he's working on the pitch. The progress is very good progress."
|
