Harry Diamond
Arsenal manager Unai Emery insists his side must be wary of the threat posed by Hatem Ben Arfa as they prepare to face French side Rennes in the Europa League Round of 16.
Former Newcastle playmaker Ben Arfa played under Emery during their time at PSG, and the Spaniard is wary of the threat posed by the talented – if temperamental – 32-year-old.
“He’s a very good player and he’s playing with big performances,” Emery said at the pre-match press conference.
“We know they have good organisation and good players – and one is Ben Arfa.
“We need to control his quality and his skills because in the two matches they played against Betis he played very well with big performances.
“But it’s not only Ben Arfa, they have Sarr, Grenier, Bourigeaud, Andre and some good defensive players. It’s all the players. But mostly, Ben Arfa is very important for them
“They played very well again Real Betis in the two games [in the last-32], and they deserve to be here. They have very good organisation defensively and offensively. They have very good players and we know for them it’s an important moment, and for us it’s the same.
“We’ll prepare for the match thinking the best of them, wanting to stop their good players, but to impose our gameplan with our capacity and quality. We know we need to play two matches with big performances [to go through].”