Sports

Unai Emery explains why losing 5-1 to Liverpool was good for Arsenal

263

Arsenal slumped to their heaviest defeat under Unai Emery with 5-1 loss at Anfield (Picture: Getty)

Unai Emery insisted there was one positive to take from Arsenals embarrassing 5-1 defeat against Liverpool on Saturday.

Liverpool recovered from the shock of conceding an early goal by wiping out the deficit in a devastating 90-second spell, during which Roberto Firmino scored twice.

Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah doubled the advantage before the break and Firmino completed the rout with a second half penalty.

More: Football

Liverpool moved nine points clear at the top of the table (Picture: Getty)

The defeat represented the heaviest loss of Emerys tenure to date, but the former Sevilla coach, who masterminded Liverpools defeat in the 2016 Europa League final, believes the performance of Klopps side gave his burgeoning squad an indication of just how far they need to improve.

Advertisement Advertisement

He told BT Sport: Three years ago we [Sevilla] played against Liverpool in the Champions League and now last year they played in the final of the Champions League.

Unai Emery masterminded Sevillas Europa League win over Liverpool in 2016 (Picture: Getty)

They are an example for us. We need also to be demanding of our-self but also we need time.

We need to do this progress doing a step every day. Today this loss is good. Not a good result. But good to know how to do this step in our process for our future.

We have a very important match on Tuesday – we have to show we can recover and show a good performance.