Former Arsenal Favourite Ray Parlour Claims Unai Emery Must Decide Where Season Priorities Lie
Former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour insists that Gunners manager Unai Emery will consider the club's main objectives in the new year, before deciding which priorities his side need to pursue.
The north London outfit sit fifth on 24 points after 12 Premier League games (winning seven), lie three points behind rivals Tottenham Hotspur in fourth and eight behind league leaders Manchester City.
Yet, despite going 16 matches unbeaten in all competitions and securing their place in the Last-32 of the UEFA Europa League, it is uncertain whether the Gunners can continue their impressive run under Emery, who has won the competition three times as manager of Sevilla.
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Gunners legend Parlour has indicated that his main target will have been to secure Champions League football next season, who are enduring their second successive campaign absent from the competition.
As quoted by Express Sport, Parlour said: "The ideal would obviously be Champions League football next season.
"You've got two options, you can either go top four or obviously Europa League," he added, "The Europa League's quite a big trophy this year."
Arsenal's last success was the 2017 FA Cup and Parlour admitted that winning the Europa League would be his priority, as it not only wins a trophy, but also guarantees qualification for the Champions League.
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"If I had to pick one I would say Europa League, to win that, because you win a trophy and then you're in the Champions League."
"I think what will happen is Emery will assess the situation in February/March when it kicks off again and gets serious and if Arsenal do really well in the league still, it maybe in certain areas or if they’re sixth or seventh and it doesn't look like they're going to get top four, he can concentrate on Europa League. It'll be interesting to see."
