Sokratis Papastathopoulos has insisted that Arsenal are still some way from their best ahead of next week’s North London Derby.
It was pleasing to see Arsenal get back to winning ways on Sunday afternoon. The Gunners traveled to the Vitality Stadium to take on AFC Bournemouth, a trip which has caused the side some trouble in recent years. The early exchanges of the match suggested a similar story as the two teams went into the break at 1-1. That changed in the second half when Sead Kolasinac teed up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to score the winner.
It was Arsenal’s first win after three consecutive draws so it was pleasing to get the three points, especially at such a difficult ground. The 2-1 victory also extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run to an impressive 17 matches in all competitions. However, after the match, centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos insisted that there is a lot more to come from Arsenal.
“We are around 70-80 per cent [of our potential],” Sokratis claimed after playing the 90 minutes in a back three.
“We need to improve sometimes to not lose the ball or when we have the ball to finish the action and score.
“That is the difference, we need to improve and we know this. We work every day and I am happy that I am part of a team that works very good together.”
Arsenal certainly are working well together right now. The unbeaten run is still going strong and marks what has so far been an impressive first season for head coach Unai Emery. Arsenal look better in every area of the pitch but there is still some way to improve. The Gunners still haven’t led a Premier League match at half-time with second-half flurries often masking their slow starts in games. That will have to change ahead of the big one on Sunday: the North London Derby.
It will be Unai Emery’s first as Gunners boss and a new experience for a number of Arsenal players too. It’s a cliché that the form book goes out the window in football derbies but in the case of Arsenal and Tottenham, that has been accurate in recent seasons. The matches have felt like a coin toss with three draws and two wins for each side in the last seven North London Derbies.
After a shaky start to the season, Spurs are now in a purple patch. Mauricio Pochettino’s men have won their last five matches in all competitions and will go into the match three points ahead of Arsenal in the Premier League table. Spurs will be missing a couple of key players in Moussa Dembele and Danny Rose but will always be a threat moving forward. Harry Kane has scored an impressive seven goals in his last eight North London Derbies and you’d expect that it will be on Sokratis Papastathopoulos to stop him from adding to that tally.
“It will be difficult against Tottenham,” the former Dortmund defender went on.
“You have a lot of games, everything gets changed – a lot of players. It is difficult but what can I say? For now, we are not bad, we are good.
“It will be a very important game – but I don’t think it is a game that can give you the Champions League. For example, if we win against Tottenham and lose some other games, it is the same thing.
“For me, it is very important that in every game we look different, we go for the win in every game and in the end, we will see how it is going. But of course, Tottenham is a very important game.”
That’s certainly true, especially for the fans. Arsenal are the slight favorites for the clash at 6/4 on Betway as of 26 November. Their North London neighbors are just behind at 17/10 with a draw out at 13/5. Spurs haven’t drawn a Premier League match all season but a point each on Sunday wouldn’t be out of the question.
Sokratis is right to say that there is more to come from Arsenal. The Gunners have improved immensely in the last few months under Unai Emery but there is still some way to go. The likes of Mesut Özil, Aaron Ramsey, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan haven’t really fulfilled their potential this season and there are certainly improvements which can be made in defence.
There is also the strong possibility that the trend of Arsenal’s improvement will continue. The Gunners’ new-look midfield will only get better as Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira get more acquainted and in defence, Rob Holding and Sokratis are looking more comfortable with each passing week. Arsenal’s improvement under Unai Emery has been impressive but as Sokratis says, there is still a lot more to come from this team.
