Arsenal ace jealous of Manchester United?

Lucas Torreira has lamented Manchester United’s resurgence in the Premier League, saying that the Gunners will have to deal with the Old Trafford side going one place ahead of them on the Premier League table. He Arsenal deserve to be playing Champions League football, despite a recent blip which has allowed Manchester United to overtake his side in the race for fourth place.

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The Gunners have lost three of their last six Premier League matches and have dropped to sixth position in the table while United, rejuvenated under the interim management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, are currently Chelsea’s closest rivals in the race for the final Champions League qualifying spot.

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Just three points separates the three clubs and Torreira, who has established himself as a key member of Arsenal’s midfield engine room since his summer move from Sampdoria, believes Unai Emery’s side cannot afford to be distracted by United’s blistering run of form.

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‘Just a few weeks ago, (Manchester) United were obviously behind us but it’s happened and it’s something we have to deal with,’ the 22-year-old told Sky Sports News. ‘We obviously don’t want that form to happen again. As players, you always need to be fighting for an objective when you walk out onto the pitch and for us that means qualifying for the Champions League.

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‘We know it’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure, because we are up against some great teams such as Chelsea and Manchester United but we need to try and stand firm as a team and as a group and battle in every game. ‘The squad is focused on qualifying for the Champions League because a big club like Arsenal deserves to be playing in that competition.’

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Meanwhile, Arsenal were offered “false hope” by a 22-match unbeaten run, says Ian Wright, with things having now become “a little worrying in respect of top four”. The former Gunners striker believes an impressive sequence of results early in the 2018-19 masked the faults which are now holding the team back.

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Finishing inside the Champions League spots was the ultimate target put to Unai Emery upon his appointment as Arsene Wenger’s successor in the summer of 2018. With the Gunners having spent two years outside of the European elite, a desire to avoid an unwelcome hat-trick has been driving ambition at Emirates Stadium.

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Emery made a solid start to that quest, with back-to-back defeats to open the season followed a lengthy run in which no setbacks were suffered across multiple competitions. Arsenal have, however, regressed to their inconsistent ways of late and, with little money being spent across two transfer windows, they are now playing catch up once more. Wright believes such a situation was always on the cards, with the faults masked early in the campaign now threatening to undermine the Gunners’ efforts.

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