Unai Emery vows to mix things up ahead of North London derby after defending Arsenal’s formation in Liverpool thrashing

UNAI EMERY has vowed to tinker with his system ahead of the North London derby despite his team’s thrashing by Liverpool last weekend. The Gunners went down 3-1 at Anfield last time out after the Spaniard surprised everyone by playing a diamond formation in midfield. But speaking ahead of his side’s clash with bitter rivals […]

UNAI EMERY has vowed to tinker with his system ahead of the North London derby despite his team’s thrashing by Liverpool last weekend.

The Gunners went down 3-1 at Anfield last time out after the Spaniard surprised everyone by playing a diamond formation in midfield.

Reuters

But speaking ahead of his side’s clash with bitter rivals Tottenham, Emery refused to budge.

In his programme notes to fans, the 47-year-old defended last week’s surprise tactical move and said: “When it comes to our formation, we have plenty of options.

“For example, last weekend at Liverpool, we played with a diamond.

“The consequence of the result was not the diamond, but really we are ready to play with different tactical decisions.

“Last year we worked and used different formations with good performances because the players here have worked on those systems.

“Also, they have a habit of playing in different systems.

“We are more rich tactically with different formations and tactics and can change in each match and each moment in the 90 minutes.

“For this game we will decide the best possible system for us, thinking of our game plan and adapt for Tottenham.”

And Emery was true to his word as he made three changes to Arsenal’s starting XI for the Spurs game.

Alexandre Lacazette, Lucas Torreira and Sead Kolasinac all came into the team in place of Joe Willock, Dani Ceballos and Nacho Monreal who has moved to Real Sociedad.