Arsenal must show intensity to get fans on side – Emery

Unai Emery has demanded Arsenal maintain the intensity they demonstrated in beating BATE as they prepare to face Premier League strugglers Southampton.

Arsenal eased into the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday, winning 3-0 at Emirates Stadium thanks to an own goal from Zakhar Volkov and efforts from Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Arsenal have won three of their last four league outings but head into Sunday’s encounter with Southampton a point behind Manchester United – who host Liverpool on the same day – in the race for fourth place.

Heading into the final third of the season, Emery acknowledged that his side must learn to replicate the style of play they have shown at home on a consistent basis in order to get the Gunners fans fully on board.

“I think we need to create a good feeling with our supporters, a good atmosphere here, giving them our energy, giving them our quality and both is very important,” Emery said.

“Quality, energy and intensity, and I want to develop with this capacity in our team.

“We are doing [it], I think home more than away from home, but consistency is my target with this team in this condition.

3:28 – Arsenal’s opener against BATE Borisov was their fastest in European competition since Lukas Podolski netted against Galatasaray (2 minutes 1 second) in the Champions League in December 2014. Opener. #ARSBAT #UEL pic.twitter.com/9nZuxOCj3l

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 21, 2019

“At home, we have created this, we are very demanding for every player to press, to push for 90 minutes and give the opposition a difficult 90 minutes, a hard 90 minutes here.

“We did that [against BATE] and we have a lot of matches but each match is a new chapter, a new challenge and Sunday I prefer to change some players if I know they are going to give us this intensity on Sunday.”