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When pleasure turns to pressure, the drive to keep on moving is always hard to come by. Both elements are part of the beautiful game. The former is what every team embraces because it produces a perfect atmosphere to get going while the latter's unfriendly and catastrophic nature renders it irritable to every club; hence, everyone tries to avoid it.
Yet, not every club is able to overcome this ugly situation. A number of clubs are going through this difficult experience in various parts of Europe at the moment, with Premier League giants Arsenal serving as a good example of such this season.
The Gunners have been on a rough patch in the EPL since about two seasons ago - languishing between the fifth and sixth positions on the table and missing out on UEFA Champions League as a result.
Unai Emery - upon completing his first 20 games in charge at the Emirates Stadium - was seen by many as the man to return Arsenal into where they actually belong in European football - the UCL. Yes. The Spaniard truly deserved those comments, with the winning mentality he instilled in the players and his performances against the big clubs in the Premier League bearing proof to this claim.
The club did impress under their new manager, rising up to the levels of teams like Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, and Manchester United, and recording decent results against them. By the end of January, Arsenal were looking like a huge force to be reckoned with in the Premier League and their outputs forced many to believe that this is the year for the Londoners to reclaim their spot in Europe.
However, fast forward 3 months from then and the feelings aren't the same anymore. Despite showing promising signs in the middle of the campaign, Unai Emery's men now find themselves on the verge of missing out on Champions League football once again.
Occupying the fifth position on the table, the Gunners are locked in an intense battle against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur to secure a top-four finish this term. With just three games left and a slight possibility of going through, the Londoners need to rise up to the task and make the most of their chances in the coming weeks.
Below are three things Unai Emery and his men must do in order to secure a place in the top 4 zone of the Premier League this season.
#3 No room for complacency
As said earlier, Arsenal have a huge battle to fight in their quest to secure a top-four finish this season, with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur breathing down their necks.
Unai Emery's men are currently occupying the fifth position on the Premier League table, a point behind Chelsea who sits in fourth, two points above Manchester United who occupies the sixth position and four behind Tottenham who leads the pack of contenders.
Given that Chelsea and United still have a number of technical fixtures left to be played including a clash against each other, Arsenal still have the chance to seal their qualification for the UCL. However, there will be no room for complacency as there are just three matches left in the division and the Gunners will need to seal the maximum points and expect favor from their rivals to go through.
Therefore, Unai Emery's men must keep their nerves and get down to work. There will be no room for excuses if they fail to do so.
#2 Getting rid of subpar players from lineup
Considering what we witnessed during the past few weeks, it is quite evident that Emery needs to axe some players from his starting eleven in order to meet up with his objective of securing a top-four place this season, with pure regards to their performances in recent games.
The likes of Shkodran Mustafi, Alex Iwobi, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan have been putting up performances that are well below their abilities and far away from what is expected from Arsenal players. With the Gunners on thin ice right now, such outputs cannot be tolerated anymore. Iwobi and Mkhitaryan may provide options on the bench, but there are better players who should start ahead of them.
Therefore, the manager needs to act fast in displacing these players from his starting lineup for the next three crucial games. Replacing them with the right options will surely provide the spark that is needed to keep the team afloat as they aim to finish the season on a high.
#1 Squad management
For any football team to be successful in the world right now, much depends on the squad depth and how injury or fatigue-free the team remains throughout the campaign. Arsenal are no different.
With just three crucial games left in the EPL, there is a crucial work on the shoulders of Emery in terms of squad management.
The Spaniard needs to ensure that he manages his players perfectly both in training and during games; avoiding fatigue and injury crisis in order to keep them in great shape so that they can give their best to the team in the remaining games.
If boss Emery can look into these areas, albeit not limited to just these, then the Gunners will have the chance to finish among the Premier League's elite four and realize their Champions League dreams next season.
