Arsenal News: Emmanuel Frimpong To Battle For First-Team Spot

Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong is aiming to be a part of the Gunners first team this coming season and said that he would try his utmost to give manager Arsene Wenger food for thought while selecting the team before the game against Liverpool. Frimpong made a substitute appearance against Udinese in the Champions League qualifier in midweek, and has his sights set on seeing more game time in the weeks to come.

Frimpong to battle for first team spot

Frimpong admitted that the chance he was getting was owed majorly to the absence of big name players either through injuries (Wilshere, Diaby) or transfers out (Fabregas, Nasri) but he was determined to take it nonetheless. Speaking to reporters, the hard-hitting midfielder said-

“I’ve been training hard to get into the first team and now the boss has given me my chance to shine”,

“There’s always the possiblity when big players leave that you can get into the team and I hope that if I get my chance I will take it and show what I can do”

Speaking about the game against Udinese, Frimpong stressed the importance of not underestimating their opponents in Italy, but was still reasonably confident of a comfortable run-out in the second round, which takes place in under a week’s time. He was honest enough to confess that the 1-0 win at the Emirates wasn’t Arsenal’s best defensive performance and the clean sheet was mainly because of last-ditch tackles, saves and tame finishing by Antonio Di Natale.

He said-

“I thought Udinese were a very technical team, they played good attacking football and they put us to the test but hopefully when we go to Italy we can win without conceding and go through. We’ve won today and not conceded but to be fair they could have scored a couple of goals. In the second leg hopefully we’ll show them that we are a good team and win the game”.

Frimpong might be a part of the first team on the weekend against Liverpool, with Song suspended for three games. The nineteen year old will hope to take his chance and stake a sustained claim for the first team in the future.