Martin Keown says Unai Emery mustn’t change the XI against United if Arsenal are to finish in top-four and ahead of Tottenham

Emery
Emery

Arsenal boosted their chances of playing in next season’s Champions League with a 2-0 victory over Manchester United at the Emirates last night.

The victory saw the Gunners move to fourth place in the league table, and only one point now separate them from third-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs have finished above Arsenal in the last two seasons and looked set to do so for the third campaign in a row a few weeks ago.

However, they have fallen apart in recent games, and Gunners legend Martin Keown believes the Emirates Stadium outfit can finish in top-four and above Tottenham if manager Unai Emery sticks with the starting XI that won against the Red Devils for the remainder of the season.

“This was a huge result for Unai Emery and Arsenal. It will give them the belief they can not only finish in the top four, but ahead of Tottenham, too,” Keown told Sportsmail.

“On Sunday, Emery’s team showed all the ingredients necessary to finish in the top four. If they are to do so, the manager must resist the urge to tinker. In Arsenal’s run-in just three of their final eight games are at the Emirates. This team have struggled to find a way to be successful on the road.

“Emery has made 76 changes to his starting line-up, the third most of any manager in the Premier League this season. When Arsenal were winning titles, they did not have one team for Highbury and another for away games. It was the same XI every week. It is time for Emery to trust the players who battled so valiantly to beat United to see Arsenal over the line.”

Emery named Mesut Ozil in his starting XI on Sunday, while he also opted to play with two strikers – Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and those two decisions surprised many.

The players the Spaniard fielded proved to be too much to handle for the visitors, and should they play the last few games of the campaign together, with same intensity, Arsenal will most likely finish ahead of the struggling Spurs and more importantly in the top-four.

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