Unai Emery warns Arsenal to expect another physical test at Brighton after feisty Burnley clash

Unai Emery warns Arsenal to expect another physical test at Brighton after feisty Burnley clash
Unai Emery has told his Arsenal players to expect Brighton to pose a similar physical challenge to Burnley on Boxing Day.The Gunners claimeda 3-1 victory over Burnley at the Emirates on Saturday with striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored twice, claiming he had never played in a game that was as feisty.2

Arsenal’s clash with Burnley had a number of flashpoints

There were a number of flashpoints and Clarets boss Sean Dyche afterwards claimed that Arsenal players had dived during what proved to be a fairly hot-tempered afternoon.The win was enough to take Arsenal level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea and Emery believes Brighton will provide a similarly bruising test at the Amex Stadium.“Brighton is the same, a very tough match physically, very organised and, like with Burnley, a very good coach who is working very well.“It is a challenge and I respect those teams a lot because they also have good players. They decide to do a line-up with physical players with a lot of crosses for the strikers for heading in our box. We need to defend very far in our box to defend better against that.” The challenge for Arsenal, who lost to Chris Hughton’s Seagulls on the south-coast last season, is made more difficult due to a defensive injury crisis.Emery could be without as many as five defenders for the trip to the AMEX as he continues to turn to the likes of Granit Xhaka and Stephan Lichtsteiner to fill in at centre-back.2

Granit Xhaka is set to operate as a central defender on Boxing Day

Rob Holding, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Hector Bellerin are out but Nacho Monreal could recover from a hamstring issue which forced him off in the win at Burnley.Emery can turn to captain Laurent Koscielny, who has just returned from a seven-month injury lay-off, with Shkodran Mustafi set to return to training this week following a hamstring injury.There was no such good news for winger Henrikh Mkhitaryan, with club confirming on Monday that the Armenia international is set for six weeks on the sidelines with a foot problem.The 29-year-old will miss league games against Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City as Arsenal look to seal a place in the top four.

---

Performance of the weekend: Marcelo Bielsa's sportsmanship helped draw a line under incident ahead of p Aston Villa were allowed to score an unopposed equaliser when Leeds took the lead with a controversial goal.
Derby manager Frank Lampard angered by Bielsa's Spygate

---

News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services.
Chelsea news live: England striker sends Chelsea transfer

---

Tottenham advanced to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 1-0 victory at Borussia Dortmund - sealing a stunning 4-0 aggregate triumph.. The Bundesliga leaders battered the Spurs goal for 90 minutes of the second leg, but Harry Kane's well-taken goal sealed a remarkable smash-and-grab win for the visitors on the night.
Borussia Dortmund 0-1 Tottenham (0-4 agg.): Champions League

---

Louis van Gaal gives verdict on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appointment at Manchester United. Manchester United handed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a three-year contract on the back of his success as caretaker
Manchester United news: Louis van Gaal SLAMS Ole Gunnar

---

Tottenham vs Crystal Palace predictions: Tottenham line-up It's finally here and Tottenham finally get to play a Premier League game in their brand new stadium. Their recent loss to Liverpool
Tottenham vs Crystal Palace predictions: Crystal Palace line-up

---

Celtic keep Europa League hopes alive with dramatic late winner against RB Leipzig Independent.ie Odsonne Edouard gave Celtic a massive Europa League boost with a dramatic winning goal in the 2-1
Celtic 2 RB Leipzig 1 - Odsonne Edouard nets winner as Hoops

---

Sunderland's star striker Josh Maja has completed a transfer to French club Bordeaux. The 20-year-old's days at the League One club appeared to be numbered when the Black Cats' chief
Bipartisan retirement bill clears House, moves closer to

---

The Football Whispers Index has be tracking this one for some time now. Having been on the Index for most of the mid-season window, the Saints' chances of landing the Italian forward have risen from 1.4 out of five on 22 January to 4.7 today.
Football Transfer News | Gossip ☆ | Page 3 | Sam's Alfresco

---

Alfredo Morelos signs another new Rangers deal as he hails 'special' club. The Colombian striker has put to pen on a new contract extension that will keep him at Ibrox until 2023.
The Steven Gerrard words on Alfredo Morelos that have come

---

With the new Premier League season almost upon us, we pick out the best signings of the summer so far. Portugal's No 1 has long been regarded as among the best goalkeepers in Europe, so it was
Premier League: Top new signings so far | FOX Sports Asia

---

Mar 29, 2019 · The Football Association has announced that Mark Bullingham, currently the organisation's commercial director, will succeed Martin Glenn as chief executive of the governing body, one of the
FA announce Mark Bullingham as new chief executive

---

Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey 'contacted by Real Madrid' which could trigger Isco transfer to the Premier League The prospect of a move to Madrid would give the midfielder the chance to play
Arsenal transfer news: Nicolo Barella, Aaron Ramsey, Nicolas

---