Arsenal: Spiky Unai Emery knows its a problem

Unai Emery was a little spiky when asked about Arsenal’s poor away form in his pre-match press conference on Friday. He knows it is an issue and I am not sure he — or anyone — knows how to solve it.

The away form. It is a problem. Arsenal currently rank tenth in the away Premier League table after Wednesday’s defeat to Wolves. They have two more games to play, at Leicester on Sunday and then at Burnley to close out the year. There is no guarantee that they will win either.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Pragmatism, clean sheets, and Unai Emery

If the Gunners fail to qualify for the Champions League through the league, it will be undoubtedly because of their road troubles. Only Liverpool and Manchester City have better records at home. The difference is what they do on their travels.

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And Unai Emery is quite aware of the difficulties his side is struggling from on the road. He was asked extensively about the recent losses and the away day blues in Friday’s pre-match press conference. His first response was rather dismissive:

"“I don’t want to speak about the last match we lost. I don’t want to speak about our victory at Napoli, I only want to speak about our next match. We are preparing, working and not giving too much information. We want to give enough information to be ready to play.”"

He was then asked again, the politeness of his answer quickly running out the window:

"“How many times are you going to ask the same question? It’s the same. I am responding to you and I am answering you, but maybe I change my words to say the same.”"

The spiky reply of Emery tells me that he is quite aware of the difficulties his team is struggling with. It also tells me — and this is reading between the lines a little — that he does not know how to solve it, at least not between now and the end of the season.

Earlier in the same press conference, Emery spoke extensively about the confidence of his players, stating that his priority was to recover it after two successive defeats that have left their top-four hopes hanging in the balance. I think that the confidence of the squad is shot, particularly on the road. And I think Emery knows it.

Somehow, someway, Emery and Arsenal have to squeeze out two road wins, first against Leicester and then at Burnley. They must also travel to Valencia for the second leg of their Europa League semi-final in May. Their away troubles must not haunt them there either.

The success of Arsenal’s season will come down to the stability of their away form. And that, given past evidence and Emery’s spikiness, is not the most comforting of thoughts whatsoever.