Emery out to 'write new history' against Arsenal's major rivals

Unai Emery is confident Arsenal can "write a new history" by improving their record against the Premier League's top sides, starting with Liverpool on Saturday.

The Gunners began 2018-19 with back-to-back losses to Manchester City and Chelsea, before embarking on an 11-match winning run in all competitions that ended with a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace.

They host Liverpool at Emirates Stadium looking to end a miserable record of no wins in six league meetings between the teams, with Jurgen Klopp yet to taste defeat against them in the top flight since taking over as Reds manager in October 2015.

Emery, though, hopes his belief in Arsenal's new era can be underlined by a positive result.

"We want to write a new history," he told a news conference. "The new history is in the present and also, with our players, our quality and our capacity, I believe in my players and this project.

"We are starting this project with a very positive way with what we are doing."

Emery hopes his players can show they have improved their big-game approach since those losses to Chelsea and City back in August.

"These two matches are so far and also so close," he said. "[Saturday] is similar because Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool are in front of us in the table and now we want to compete against them and this test is very important, but I trust in our players. I trust in our way.

"The result is important but first I want to show everyone our best mentality in the game. I know if we have a very big mentality in the game, and a big performance, and also some luck, we can win."

The last five league meetings between Arsenal and Liverpool have produced 27 goals, and Emery admits he would like to see another high-scoring encounter – provided the Gunners win.

"They say there are a lot of goals in past matches between Arsenal and Liverpool," he added. "The most important thing for us is that every supporter enjoys the match, but we want to enjoy winning!"