HENRIKH MKHITARYAN REMAINS confident that Unai Emery’s methods will work at Arsenal, despite the club enduring a sticky start to his reign.
New head coach Emery was handed a home clash with Premier League champions Manchester City in his first competitive match after replacing Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal lost that game 2-0 and were then beaten 3-2 at Chelsea on Saturday, despite fighting back from 2-0 down, leaving the Spaniard with plenty to ponder.
A tough fixture list offers some explanation for Arsenal’s early troubles, with Mkhitaryan believing the former Paris Saint-Germain boss needs time to get his philosophy across to the players.
“It’s not too different but there are different things because there is not people playing in the same way or thinking in the same way, the philosophy is different,” Mkhitaryan told Sky Sports .
“Emery kept the philosophy of Wenger but is building something new on it. He knows he can give something different to this club, like the balance between attack and defence.
It’s not easy but I think he’s doing it in the right way.
“We have to keep working because we have a new manager, a new philosophy and want to play in a different way than before under Wenger.
“It’s not too easy but we are trying to achieve that and do what the coach is asking from us. He wants to play football and dominate the game and that’s what we’re doing, we’re not just kicking the ball up front.
“We are trying to play football, our second goal against Chelsea we had 19 consecutive passes and then Alex [Iwobi] finished the attack and we scored.
It’s a new philosophy, we have to accept that and work hard to achieve our goals.”
Despite criticism from some in the media, Mkhitaryan is adamant Emery will not change Arsenal’s way of playing just to pacify others.
“Everyone has their own opinion,” Mkhitaryan added. ”We know very well what we are playing for and how we have to play.
“If we are just going to kick the ball up front and wait for God to give us a chance to score, it’s not necessary.
“The only thing we have to do is to work hard, believe in ourselves and use the chances we create to score goals.”
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