Unai Emery loving life at Arsenal as he hails Premier League as the best championship in world football
- Arsenal visit Leicester City on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League
- Unai Emery’s Gunners are looking for a win to boost their top-four hopes
- The pressure is on Emery but the Arsenal manager is loving life in England
- Emery said: ‘I think now the championship here with 20 teams is the best’
Arsenal could crash out of Champions League contention this week, but head coach Unai Emery insists he is not under pressure and loving life in the best league in the world.
The Spanish tactician fell in love with the romance of English football when watching Sunday’s opponents Leicester take the title against the odds in 2016
And having managed in Spain at Seville and Valencia, and France with PSG, Emery believes he is finally working at the top.
Unai Emery pictured at an Arsenal training session on the eve of Sunday’s trip to Leicester
He explained: ‘It is the most competitive here. Each team gives us a difficult game and the spirit here is very high.
‘In Spain maybe it’s more technical. France is physical, less technical. Here it is physical and technical.
‘Tactically they are also improving a lot here with very good coaches, also the English coaches. I think now the championship here with 20 teams is the best.’
Arsenal had a top four place in their hands this time last week, but dismal defeats by Crystal Palace and Wolves have left them out of the top four with three matches to go.
The Leicester trip is quickly followed by Thursday’s visit of Valencia in the Europa League semi-final – Emery’s second way of getting the club back in to Europe’s elite in his first season as Arsene Wenger’s successor.
‘In my career I do not feel pressure but the demand [to do well]. I want to be demanding with the club and players because I know it’s a difficult way for us, but never I felt the pressure. I enjoy my job.’
The pressure is on Emery but the Arsenal manager is loving life in England’s Premier League
And his only focus now is getting Arsenal back into a Champions League qualification challenge at a time when some of Europe’s bigger clubs are again discussing a Super League to exclude the likes of Leicester, even though they reached the last eight two years ago.
Emery commented: ‘When I was in Spain, I looked at Leicester’s victory in the Premier League and the possibility of how that happens. They are a big club, but small in comparison (to the top six) so to win was a surprise. They have players that the best teams in Europe, the world can sign and this is good for the Premier League.
‘The Super League? I cannot speak a lot about it, but my opinion is we need to keep each domestic championship as they are and do the best European league possible.
‘I think it is normal that who wins the championship deserves to play with the best in the world.’
Emery hopes to recall fit again leading goalscorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang against a revitalised Leicester under former Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.
The last time the two coaches clashed ended in a 12-1 aggregate win for Emery’s PSG over Celtic at the end of 2017.
Emery noted: ‘This is very different. I think he is doing positive things in football as a coach and the gap is closer.’
