Gunner be competitive

Creating a competitive environment at Arsenal is a priority for Gunners' new manager Unai Emery, so much so that he is placing a greater emphasis on that over their playing system.

Revealing his objectives ahead of next week's International Champions Cup (ICC) in Singapore, Emery talked about creating quality in his side through a keen competition for first-team spots.

"I want to win. The performances, every day, for work on attacking, defending, is to be competitive each match," he said in a press release yesterday.

"My first idea is getting better day-to-day with our players and working hard with our players, to transmit my ideas.

"The system for me isn't the most important. For me, the most important thing is to be and to create one competitive team. And then, we have the quality."

Football fans in Singapore will get a close look at how the new Arsenal side are shaping up under the Spaniard during the ICC.

The Gunners take on Europa League winners Atletico Madrid on July 26 and Emery's former club Paris Saint-Germain on July 28, before PSG face Atletico on July 30. All matches take place at the National Stadium.

The organisers also announced that Arsenal's stars such as Petr Cech, Hector Bellerin, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will join the likes of Mesut Oezil for the ICC.

Three of Emery's new signings - goalkeeper Bernd Leno, defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos and midfielder Matteo Guendouzi - are also expected to be on the plane to Singapore.

Emery's two other new signings are Swiss fullback Stephan Lichtsteiner and Uruguay midfielder Lucas Torreira, whose World Cup exertions ended barely two weeks ago.

Emery had suggested that he was nearly done in the transfer market, but added that "if one player is a big opportunity for us, we will sign him".

The British press reported that this one player could be midfielder Steven N'Zonzi, a reserve in France's World Cup-winning squad.

While it remains to be seen if the Gunners will be able to seal a deal for N'Zonzi before the transfer window closes on Aug 9, fans in Singapore could catch the other new signings, such as Greek centre-back Papastathopoulos.

The 30-year-old, who joined the Gunners this month for £16 million (S$28.7m) from Borussia Dortmund, started in the Gunners' 8-0 win over non-league Boreham Wood last Saturday, when Aubameyang hit a hat-trick.

Papastathopoulos has been tipped to shine in the English Premier League by Sky Germany's Bundesliga expert Max Bielefeld.

SOLID DEFENDER

"German strikers hated to play against him. They told us their whole body hurt after a match against Papastathopoulos," Bielefeld told the Transfer Talk podcast.

"He will do very well at Arsenal. He's a solid defender, but don't expect a new world-class defender at Arsenal."

Bielefeld added that the Greece international is not good with the ball on his feet, though.

Midfielder Guendouzi, who reportedly cost Arsenal £7m when he joined from French Ligue 2 side Lorient, is expected to challenge for a first-team spot, while goalkeeper Leno, 26, who joined from Bayer Leverkusen for £22.5m, is set to be Cech's successor.

After the ICC in Singapore, the Gunners will face Chelsea in Ireland and Sevilla in Sweden, followed by Emery's first EPL match - a home encounter against Pep Guardiola's champions Manchester City on Aug 12.

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INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONS CUP SINGAPORE 2018

• July 26 (Thursday)

Atletico Madrid v Arsenal

• July 28 (Saturday)

Arsenal v Paris Saint-Germain

• July 30 (Monday)

Paris Saint-Germain v Atletico Madrid

* All matches at National Stadium.

For ticket details, visit sportshub.com.sg/ICC2018