Arsenal face arduous week beginning with Leicester

Emery’s men are on a nine-match winning streak in all competitions

LONDON: Unai Emery admits Arsenal will struggle to cope with a draining schedule that sees them host Leicester at the start of three games in seven days.

Emery's side will be pushed to the limit by the television schedulers, who moved their Premier League clash with the Foxes to Monday evening at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners then travel to Portugal for a Europa League tie against Sporting Lisbon on Thursday before returning to domestic action at Crystal Palace on Sunday.

In contrast, Sporting were due to face Loures on Saturday night, giving them more time to recover before hosting Arsenal.

Emery has fielded a strong side in Arsenal's previous Europa League matches, but he will be forced to rotate more heavily this time.

"We are one team with a very high level and very high demand for us," he said. "Every player, they need to feel they can play every match. With only three days difference between one match and another, you can't do that. You can't do that with play and rest, play and we can't do that without changing players. But if I decide to play with the same players Monday, Thursday, Sunday, the players can't do that. "We want to play a lot of matches. We want to continue doing our way with different possibilities tactically and with the players — but with a lot of matches, we can't do that."

Arsenal are on a nine-match winning streak in all competitions, but their chances of extending that run past the coming week will be severely tested.

Emery acknowledges the television rights holders can determine when his team play, but he wishes they showed more common sense.

"We are first in one competition (the Premier League) and the TV is very important," he said. "The TV has the target to choose the matches Friday, Sunday, Monday. If they decided we are going to play Monday we don't stop to think if it is better to play Monday or not. I prefer to play Saturday or Sunday. It (playing on Monday) has the advantage for more time to prepare the match — that's one positive.”

Klopp happy to win 'average' matches

Jurgen Klopp suggested he had found a way to win "average matches" for the first time in his managerial career after Liverpool eked out an unconvincing 1-0 Premier League victory at Huddersfield.



This result ensured Liverpool finished Saturday level on points with leaders Manchester City after Mohamed Salah's first-half goal, his 50th in English club football, proved enough to defeat their struggling opponents.

Liverpool laboured through the match, while Huddersfield, without a goal in five home league matches this season, were unlucky not to gain a point.

Jonathan Hogg hit the post with a 25-yard shot just after the half-hour mark for David Wagner's side, while James Milner escaped a penalty appeal when he handled the ball shortly before half-time.

Klopp has developed a reputation for building spectacular attacking teams, with Liverpool the second-highest scorers in last season's Premier League, behind only champions Manchester City.

This season, however, they are only the joint-fourth highest scorers after nine matches, behind City, Chelsea and Arsenal, and level with Tottenham and Bournemouth.

Where Liverpool have improved significantly is at the back, having conceded only three goals — their best defensive record after nine games of a league season.

"It's the first period in my life that we win kind of average matches, that's true. We cannot write a book tonight about to win trophies. But there is not one way to win football games. There are different ways.

He added: "The basis we've created so far is brilliant - 23 points. I don't think I've ever had that after nine games."

Klopp acknowledged Liverpool were fortunate to win against a Huddersfield side managed by his fellow German and longstanding friend Wagner, and that they may also have got a break in not conceding a penalty for Milner's handball.

However, his side's ability to earn victories when not at their best is an encouraging sign for Klopp as Liverpool attempt to keep pace with City and fellow title contenders Chelsea, and win the English title for the first time since 1990.

"We were lucky with the handball maybe, you need luck to have only conceded three goals at this point of a season,” said Klopp.