Unai Emery has revealed his big plan to stop the in-form Jack Grealish from running riot against his former club on Sunday. How do you stop the in-form Grealish, was the question put to Emery ahead of Sunday, and the Basque replied: “We are analysing [City] as a team, we are analysing individually and, of course, Grealish… [Riyad] Mahrez… [Erling] Haaland. Every play they have is important. I don’t know if they’ll make some changes after their last match they lost to Tottenham.
Unai Emery said: “I know, we have to be careful of them, tactically, thinking of the strategy and, of course, individually as well and to face them as well; being and helping a lot sometimes on the pitch… Not letting them do one-vs-one, especially with Grealish or with Mahrez. We will have to defend, of course. We have to work, thinking and defensively we have to be strong and committed. Our attitude will be great in our players’ minds. When we have moments to attack and keep ball possession we will try to impose ourselves. We will try and have our chances and take possibilities to win. But, thinking 90 minutes to win, it’s going to be a long match and a match that we will defend strongly on Sunday.”
Veteran Young has shaken off an injury he picked up which forced him off against Leicester last week, and Emery detailed how the 37-year-old will retain his starting shirt ahead of Matty Cash.
Unai Emery said: “Young and Cash are very important players. I prefer to play all the competitions and, if we are playing more matches, they will have more opportunities to play more. Now they can only play one and Ashley Young is doing very well. He is still fit. I want to continue trying to make the best decision with each one. With Young I am going to be very demanding and always ask for more. I like playing against the best coaches, the best players, the best teams. The Premier League is very difficult. We are seeing the teams in the bottom trying to sign players to escape from the bottom but it is very difficult to get the best performance to get the best result. Look at last week Everton beat Arsenal. I know each game is going to be hard and a big challenge. I want to enjoy each moment and show our capacity. I want to make more experiences here and to play against the best coaches like on Sunday against Pep.”
