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hrachoff22

04-10-2018 | 15:48 Football
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James Benge: "Mkhitaryan is playing well this season, certainly as well as he ever did in Manchester"

Vivaro News Sport exclusive interview with Evening Standard journalist James Benge.

How do you view Arsenal's chances in the Europa League? How far will the London club go?

The bookmakers here have Arsenal as second favourites behind Chelsea and I would probably agree with that, the two London teams clearly have the greatest strength in depth of the teams currently in the Europa League. Of course, the major issue is which teams come down from the Champions League – Arsenal could feel aggrieved that Atletico Madrid failure in that tournament last season meant they were given the chance to win another European trophy. Looking at the teams who could drop into the Europa League (maybe Inter Milan or Tottenham, Monaco, Napoli and perhaps Valencia, who knows?) there seem to be a lot of clubs you’d back over two legs against Arsenal.

How do you appreciate Mkhitaryan - Sanchez swap deal? Is Mkhitaryan's current game fit to your expectations?

At the time I thought Arsenal had made the best of a bad situation, better to get a good player in a swap deal than £35million which wouldn’t buy you a player anywhere near Sanchez’s quality. As the Chilean struggles at United, it’s looking better by the day. He had long been a difficult, demanding presence in the dressing room and having played at such intensity for so long a period of burnout always seemed a possibility. Mkhitaryan is playing well this season, certainly as well as he ever did in Manchester, without necessarily being spectacular. He clearly has a lot of value to Emery but I don’t see him as a must on the strongest team sheet, he’s effectively vying with Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi for a starting spot.

If Arsenal are not in the top-4 at the end of 2018/19 season, will it be considered a failure?

Without a doubt. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Emery would lose his job, context is everything and the Arsenal hierarchy are smart enough to understand how tough it will be for any club to get a top-four spot this season, especially one that have fallen as far off the pace as the Gunners did.

Aaron Ramsey is poised to leave Arsenal after the club withdrew their contract offer. Sell him in January or let him go for free?

If it were up to Arsenal they’d sell him in January but that would require Ramsey to agree to a move, which absolutely isn’t guaranteed. If he opts to leave on a free he can ask for more in wages and get a sizeable signing bonus. If there isn’t an option out there that suits him in January you can’t expect him to do the club a favour when they’re the ones that ended negotiations.

Unai Emery's start in Arsenal isn't too bad. Several consecutive wins, however, some work is still need to be done with the defense. Emery says every player should defend and work hard. In such case, do you Mesut Ozil can change himself as a player, or he will become a new Neymar type headache for Emery?

In terms of attitude, Ozil has never really been what Neymar appears to have been at PSG. He is a team player who relishes bringing the best out of his team-mates and a popular figure in the dressing room. His £350,000-a-week wages have had a distorting effect on the demands of players like Ramsey but he used his position shrewdly and is by some distance Arsenal’s most high-profile player. Obviously, on the pitch, there are certain sacrifices you have to make to have Ozil in your team. He will never be the best at pressing or winning the ball back, though he tries harder than a lot of people give him credit for. There’ll also be games where he doesn’t make much of a contribution but the truth is when he’s at his best there are perhaps only a handful of players his equal. You need to play him as the No.10 to get the best out of him and Emery hasn’t done that yet, but Ozil still has three goals in his last four games. Not at all bad that!

Henrikh Mkhitaryan won't be able to play against Qarabag because Azerbaijan have banned Armenians from entering the country. What can you say about this?

Only that Mkhitaryan opted not to apply for a visa and did so with the full support of Arsenal. The club have always said that Mkhitaryan’s “safety and security” is their top priority and if he does not feel that the safest course of action for him is to travel to Azerbaijan then they will support him. I should also note this decision does not necessarily mean that if Arsenal made the final in Baku Mkhitaryan would not travel, it is far too far in advance to discuss that. This is obviously a very complex, important issue and not one that anyone at the club is taking lightly.

Interview with Evening Standard journalist James Benge: “I think Hazard can be even better than Salah”

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