Arsenal news: Unai Emery says win over Watford represents big step forward for club

Arsenal scored two late goals to beat Watford and win their seventh match in a row

Unai Emery believes that Arsenal have taken an important step forward this weekend, as they recoded a seventh successive victory by beating Watford 2-0.

Arsenal were made to ride their luck at times by a resurgent Watford but won the game thanks to Craig Cathcart’s unfortunate own-goal and a Mesut Ozil strike just two minutes later.

The win completes an incredibly successful September for the club. They have now won their past five matches in the Premier League, also beating Vorskla Poltava in the Europa League and Brentford in the Carabao Cup.

After losing their opening two fixtures under Emery — against Manchester City and Chelsea — Arsenal have recovered to sit fifth in the table, level on points with north London rivals Tottenham and just four points off the summit.

And Emery has said victory over Watford, who have also made a strong start to the new campaign, represents another big step forward for his new club.

“We lost the first two matches and it was not an easy start for us in the table, but the players are committed to working hard every day and I think today we took one step more, an important one, as it means we stay with the important teams,” he said.

“We now have 15 points and I think that is good. It gives us confidence but also each match has been giving us information on how we can continue to improve, which I think we can.

“With these points and with our position in the table, I think we are in a good way.”

Watford headed into the fixture sat above Arsenal in the league table for the first time since September 1984, defending an unbeaten league record.

They started the stronger of the two teams and were desperately unlucky not to take the lead, before Arsenal’s late rally won them the game. And Emery added that the match had left him in no doubt over Watford’s quality.

Emery was impressed by Watford (Arsenal FC via Getty)

“It was a very important three points because we played against a very good team,” he said.

“Watford are having a very good season because they have good organisation and with quality. They were very competitive for ninety minutes and it was not easy to stop them, but I think with patience and with some suffering moments, we found our moment.”

That will be of scant consolation to Watford manager Javi Gracia, whose side are now winless in three Premier League matches after such a promising start.

Not that Gracia is allowing his head to drop just yet.

The Watford manager remains optimistic (Reuters)

When asked if he felt the 2-0 scoreline was a cruel result, he replied: “Yeah, if you speak about the points, I agree. But my feelings are good.

“Our expectations are to try and win the next game, in my opinion that's the best way to be proud of our work at the end of the season. Because if you start seeing very far I am sure that in the next game you do not play well.

“I prefer to be focused only on the next game and to try and prepare as best as possible. I don’t like to speak about the future because it is very, very far.”