Carl Jenkinson Eager to Impress Unai Emery After First Premier League Appearance Since 2016

Forgotten Arsenal man Carl Jenkinson is eager to force his way into Unai Emery's side after the defender made his first top-flight appearance for the Gunners in 801 days in their 2-1 win over Cardiff on Tuesday.

Jenkinson replaced Stephan Lichtsteiner for the remaining half an hour in what was his first top flight outing for the club since November 2016. Having had loan spells with West Ham and Birmingham since then, the 26-year-old outcast is desperate to salvage his career at the Emirates and enjoy a prolonged spell in the side for the second half of the campaign.

“I’ve got to push on,” said Jenkinson, via Arsenal's official website.  “I’ve got to keep working. That’s what I do best.

"I’m pushing and I’m pushing. We’ve got top lads in the squad and whoever plays is going to do a job, but for personal pride of course I want to be in the team. I’m training as hard as I can to give the manager a problem and get myself in the team."

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Arsenal have found themselves in somewhat of a defensive crisis as of late, with Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding both out for the rest of the season, while Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis Papastathopoulos both picked up knocks as well. It means Jenkinson could feature on Sunday as the Gunners travel to take on Manchester City in the Premier League, with the full back in no doubt it will be a tough fixture.

"We’ve got a hard one again on Sunday, so we need to keep focused and keep pushing on," he added.

"That’s two wins in the Premier League on the bounce so we need to keep pushing and building. We went on a good run earlier in the season and we’ve got to look to do that again.”