How Unai Emery Transformed Arsenal's Approach In Europe

The Spanish coach is looking forward to clinch  the fourth Europa League title of his career in his debut season at Arsenal.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles has offered an interesting insight into how Unai Emery has made Arsenal become a force to reckon with in Europe.

The Gunners qualified for the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday after defeating Napoli on Italian soil thanks to an Alexandre Lacazette free-kick.

It was a well deserved victory for Emery's side, against a strong Napoli team, and sets up a mouthwatering last four tie with Emery's former club Valencia.

Emery has won the competition three times previously, and youngster Maitland-Niles believes the players are in good hands.

"It's a tough league in England," Maitland-Niles said, "We're learning different methods in Europe because sometimes we need to be more like the foreign teams and stick with it for 90 minutes and just grind out results and it's going well at the moment.”

“I think we're gelling together very well. The manager is working with a back four, a back five, so we all know positionally what to do, not to dive in in the box and not to give silly fouls away around the box as well.”

"We dug deep (against Napoli). You can score as many goals as you want but if you don't defend properly then the game could go either way, as we saw in the Champions League (with Tottenham against Manchester City )."

Maitland-Niles has become Emery's first-choice down the right - whether as an orthodox right-back or in the position he played in Naples since Hector Bellerin suffered a serious knee injury. 

Maitland-Niles also praised the way Emery has nurtured his talent so far and also worked to improve the squad as a whole.

"That's what you need, for the manager to pat you on the back when you don't do well," he added.

"And when you do do well, to pat you on the back even harder and say 'look, this is fantastic'. And he's done that throughout the whole season for me.”

"The manager has given us a lot of confidence. He's backing us and he believes in us so much.

"We believe in each other more and more each day. And we're growing as a team and the spirit is very high. We all look to each other for inspiration."