MX23RW : Friday, May 10 09:06:43| >> :600:394736:394736:
May 5, 2019 at 4.30pm UK at ​Emirates Stadium
Attendance: 59,965
Arsenal
1-1
BrightonBrighton & Hove Albion
Aubameyang (9' pen.)
FT(HT: 1-0)
Murray (61' pen.)

Unai Emery sets sights on Europa League glory after Brighton draw

Unai Emery sets sights on Europa League glory after Brighton draw
© Reuters
Arsenal's hopes of finishing in the top four were all but extinguished with a draw against Brighton.

Unai Emery will switch his attention to achieving Europa League success after Arsenal's top-four hopes were all but dashed by Brighton.

The Gunners could not take advantage of rivals Tottenham losing on Saturday and Manchester United being held to a draw at relegated Huddersfield.

Instead, they too could only draw 1-1 with Brighton, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's contentious penalty ruled out by Glenn Murray's second-half spot-kick.

That leaves them three points adrift of neighbours Spurs in fourth and, with an inferior goal difference, it is now highly unlikely Emery will achieve his aim of taking Arsenal back into the top four.

The Spaniard can still take Arsenal into the Champions League if they can win the Europa League and they head to Valencia on Thursday for the second leg of their semi-final.

A 3-1 first-leg win at home last week has put Arsenal in the driving seat to advance to the May 29 final in Baku and Emery admits he is now focused on continental success.

"We had the idea to continue taking chances for the opportunity against Burnley next week, but today we drew," he said.

Arsenal were pegged back by Glenn Murray's penalty
Arsenal were pegged back by Glenn Murray's penalty (John Walton/PA)

"We know they are very organised and strong defensively, so the key was scoring the second goal. We tried to do that and they gave us some minutes to come back, and again we tried for the second goal and made chances, but their defence did very well and their goalkeeper made some big saves.

"I think we worked and tried but didn't get the result for taking chances next week. Now our way is to be strong in our focus for Thursday.

"I think we can speak now about the different situations and issues in the season, but it's better to focus for Thursday against Valencia – and we are going to do the analysis also in the Premier league, because it's our first target and we didn't take this position like we wanted."

Brighton headed to north London having seen their top-flight status secured, with Cardiff losing at home to Crystal Palace a day earlier.

"The nice thing was that we were all together as a team when we knew the final outcome, which was obviously a big relief for us," Seagulls boss Chris Hughton said after revealing he had not watched most of the game in Wales.

"We have been on the back of two dogged performances away from home. Wolves away, which was a big point for us, and of course nearly getting a similar result at Tottenham.

"Defensively we have been more of how we know we can be. Probably the areas that we have been short is getting the goals we need and that was the case today.

"We had to defend really, really well but I thought we had some chances to go and win it."


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Danny Welbeck celebrates scoring during the Europa League group game between Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal on October 25, 2018
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Tables
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City37312491226995
2Liverpool37297187226594
3Chelsea37218863392471
4Tottenham HotspurSpurs372311365372870
5Arsenal372071070502067
6Manchester UnitedMan Utd37199965521366
7Wolverhampton WanderersWolves37169124744357
8Everton37158145244853
9Leicester CityLeicester37156165148351
10Watford37148155155-450
11West Ham UnitedWest Ham37147164854-649
12Crystal Palace37137174650-446
13Bournemouth37136185365-1245
14Newcastle UnitedNewcastle37119173848-1042
15Burnley37117194465-2140
16Southampton37911174464-2038
17Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton3799193456-2236
RCardiff CityCardiff3794243269-3731
RFulham3775253477-4326
RHuddersfield TownHuddersfield3736282175-5415

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