Unai Emery says his first task when taking over at Arsenal was to make the team more competitive after a dismal final season away from home under Arsene Wenger.

The Gunners endured a miserable time on the road, which was in stark contrast to the home form which was second only to eventual champions Man City.

The Spaniard was asked ahead of our game against Crystal Palace what way he assessed the squad when he took over and what he needed to prioritise.

“I think the first thing we spoke about when I arrived here was to improve our competitiveness, both individually and collectively as a team,” he told the official website.

“We are doing that. Step by step, I think the team is more competitive and we are not giving the opposition a lot of chances to score easy goals.

At the moment, we are conceding a lot more than we want to but in the last matches, we are learning to control games better, little by little.

“Also, we are not losing. The most important thing is that these players and this team, like over the last few years, have this combination of quality and competitiveness.

“Then we can finish with a lot of players in the opposition box. This is the balance between being more competitive and not losing our identity and style.

“We also need to keep that identity in this team.”

Emery’s side will make it 12 wins out of 12 if they can take all three points at Selhurst Park on Sunday, a superb run of form which has seen them climb to the table to within two points of leaders Man City and Liverpool.

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