Arsenal boss Unai Emery has admitted that he wants to his team ‘suffer’ by not playing easy games, after the Gunners’ convincing win over FK Qarabag in the Europa League.
The north London outfit ran out 3-0 winners in Baku courtesy of goals from Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Emile Smith-Rowe and Matteo Guendouzi.
The Europa League Group E clash was contested evenly and despite Arsenal breaking the deadlock as early as the third minute, the hosts had a few chances of their own to get back into the game.
Emery’s men eventually trumped the Azerbaijani champions when Arsenal’s young guns fired them to victory in the second half, but the manager admitted that it was not an easy fixture.
The trip to Baku was also the furthest Arsenal have ever travelled for an away game in Europe and Emery admitted that he is more than happy to deal with difficult and challenging games.
“Good evening. Yes, each match for us is not easy”, Emery told a press conference.
“Firstly, because when we are playing away, we are playing against a good team like Qarabag today.
"Good players also and with a very great ambition and excited to play against us.
“Their mobility, their quality in above all the first half, I think we suffered in the match.
"But I want to suffer. I want to not find easy matches, like today.
“Then, in our moments, to show you and show them our possibilities, our quality and our organised moments.
"I think in the 90 minutes today, the team worked very well", Emery said.
Arsenal have now won eight games in a row across all competitions after their poor start under Emery in the opening weeks of the Premier League and will now face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
