Iwobi reveals how Emery has changed Arsenal training sessions

Alex Iwobi admits Unai Emery’s training sessions are unrecognisable from his predecessor’s, Arsene Wenger.

The former Sevilla and PSG coach is renowned for a high-energy, pressing style and despite a couple of early setbacks there were signs at Chelsea last weekend that his ideas are beginning to yield dividends. Iwobi was handed his first start of the season at Stamford Bridge and rewarded his manager with an impressive display, capped by just his third Premier League goal since January. ‘It’s exciting times to be fair,’ Iwobi told Arsenal Player. ‘Everybody’s enjoying and buying into the new ideas. For me personally, I’m enjoying the new sessions, the new training methods and the new ideas, so I’m enjoying my time with him

 ‘He demands a lot. He’s a lot more intense, a lot of high pressing and keeping the ball so that it benefits us if we have the ball. It’s good for us, especially the attackers who like to have the ball a lot. ‘It’s making me feel a bit sharper, I’m doing things with a bit more intensity. It’s not just for me, though, I feel like I’m helping the team a lot more. It’s benefitting me a lot more.

‘Whenever something in the system changes, you have to prove yourself again. But wherever you go, you have to prove that you’re better than whoever else is on the team. At a team like Arsenal, that’s always going to be hard so I always have to be on it in training and matches. ‘I’ve got to be different. It’s going to be hard because we’ve got so many attackers and so many world-class players, so I’ve just got to prove that I’m on that level or as good as them so that I can be ahead of them, which is my aim.’

Alex Iwobi with his team mates in training