Emery wants better control from Arsenal after Watford win

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has said that the players should learn to control the game better after a slender 1-0 win over Watford on the road. The north London side took the lead fortuitously after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pounced upon Ben Foster’s poor clearance and they were thereafter handed a man advantage with Troy Deeney sent off for an off-the-ball incident with Lucas Torreira.

Despite this, the Gunners were not clearly in control of the game through the 90 minutes but they eventually secured the maximum points after some last-gasp defending towards the end. Speaking after the match, Emery said that his team were competitive on the night but should have done better in controlling the proceedings of the game.

Furthermore, the Spanish tactician admitted that the club should have finish the game off with another goal, though they managed to see the game off with an important clean sheet, he told Sky Sports: “We were competitive today but in the circumstances we can control the match better. We didn't make it easy to score the second goal. We did not control the ball in the attacking third. A clean sheet is very important. It is going to give us a lot of information, this match. Our analysis will give us confidence.”

“Arsenal had multiple chances to score the second goal on the night and most of the clear-cut ones fell to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was wasteful with the opportunities. As such, they had to scramble towards the end of the game and the players should be thankful to Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who “made a stunning challenge when Andre Gray was clear on goal.

With the result, Arsenal have moved up to the fourth position on the table with 66 points. The league victory was only their second on the road since the turn of the year. The Gunners also managed to register their maiden away clean sheet of the season in the process.