Unai Emery sets his sights on Europa League glory

Arsenal boss Unai Emery has revealed his desire to win the Europa League once again this season.

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s meeting with Vorskla Poltava, as reported by the club’s official website, the Spaniard explained why the Gunners must take the competition seriously.

When I joined Arsenal, I joined an Arsenal team competing in the Europa League. That’s not the place the club wants to be, but it’s still an opportunity so we can’t sniff at it. We want to play in the Champions League because this club needs to play in the Champions League, but we need to understand that right now circumstances have meant that that’s more difficult for Arsenal.

We want to get back there and that’s the requirement. The whole club and us internally need to be aware of that. That’s what we want, but to get there we need to get back to doing things that perhaps, that for whatever reasons, we weren’t doing in recent years.

The competition is one that Emery knows well from his time with Sevilla. He helped the La Liga outfit pick up something of a reputation within the competition after winning it for three consecutive seasons.

There is an added bonus to winning the competition, with Champions League qualification gifted to those who go on to lift the trophy.

With the race for the top four once again looking like it will go down to the wire in the Premier League, there is likely to be another high-profile absentee from the Champions League next season, which makes the Europa League a useful avenue for the Gunners.