ESPANYOL SCREAMER NOT IN NEV TOP THREE
Emirates: Tomorrow, 4.30pm
SHKODRAN MUSTAFI admits this season has been the toughest of his career.
The Germany defender was derided by Arsenal fans for his displays under former boss Unai Emery, who told him he could leave – only for the Spaniard to go first.
Mustafi also had to fight his way back into the team as Mikel Arteta shuffled his pack after taking charge in December.
But the centre-back once again put his body on the line on Thursday to help the Gunners to their fourth clean sheet under Arteta and a vital 1-0 lead in the Europa League tie against Olympiakos.
And Mustafi paid tribute to his family for helping him keep his football woes in perspective.
He said: “At the beginning of the season, not being selected, not making the squad, it has been difficult.
“But I am a person who tries to see the positive things more than the negatives. That helped me a lot.
“Having my family around me – my kids, my wife – because life is not only football, that’s something I kept telling myself.
“Being in training every day, playing a lot of games, you get a lot of attention, but still at the end of the day I am a father of two kids and I try to focus on this as well.
“I am happy how it is running now. I am happy for the team as well because it is doing great and we are getting rewarded for it. That’s the important thing.
“Like every other season, you train, you try to be at your best every time, you try to be there for your team and then it is up to the coach if he selects you to play and if he does, you want to give everything on the pitch.
“That’s how I have always thought and how I am always going to be thinking because that is the way to be professional.
“In our job, we get paid so well we have to be professional at times when things are good, but at times when things are not as good as you want them to be as well.”
Mustafi never believed his Arsenal career was over despite his treatment by Emery.
“If you think things are over for you, then you should retire,” he added. “That’s not like you should think as a professional.
“You always get the opportunities and a team has more than 20 players for a reason. There is a lot of competition, there are a lot of games and everyone in the team is needed.
“The main thing for me was to be professional because as long as you stay professional, you cannot be blamed for anything. Stay professional, wait until your next opportunity and then you have to take it.
“I don’t like to talk too much about the manager. I knew Unai before he came because when I was playing at Valencia, he was the coach at Sevilla. He is a brilliant coach and I have always respected him and still do.
“But of course now, having Mikel here, I am learning a lot and even though I have played a lot of years he speaks about things I have never heard before.”
Asked about the fans’ largely positive reaction to his recall ahead of tomorrow’s visit by Everton, he added: “It is always important to have a good relationship with the fans.
“But for me the main thing was to be professional, to always be there for my team-mates and for the club.
“Then when you play well they appreciate your performances, but it makes it easier with the fans behind you.”
Molineux: Tomorrow, 2pm
STRUGGLING Norwich have been warned to watch the Wolves ace who is always thinking outside the box.
Midfielder Ruben Neves has underlined he really is the master blaster for goals from distance.
The 22-year-old’s scoring stats are astonishing. Of the 15 he’s scored for Wolves, three were penalties and the other 12 were from outside the box.
The Portugal star launched another screamer and had manager Nuno Espirito Santo (right) drooling in Wolves’ 4-0 Europa League mauling of Espanyol.
Neves used his chest to kill a ball dropping from the sky, before volleying home an unstoppable shot from 20 yards (top).
He’s no fox in the box because he doesn’t do close range, but he’s the wolf at the door who can shatter keepers with one long-range missile.
Neves said: “It’s about my position on the field. I don’t get inside the box many times, so when I get a chance to shoot outside of the box, I’ll do it.
“It’s something I do in training a lot, so I know I can do it. I know I can do even better. It’s all about training. Every chance I have, I practise that part of the game. It is important – it’s what can give you the solution when teams are defending well. I’ll keep working on improving it.”
But Neves is frank when it comes to listing where his Espanyol rocket ranks on his hit-list, saying: “To be honest, for me, I think it would come in, maybe, fourth place.
“The three above? The goals against Derby County, Sheffield United at home, and Sheffield Wednesday away were better.”
Neves certainly isn’t thinking the Canaries are easy targets considering their desperate league position.
He added: “Norwich are a really tough team. The position they are in does not reflect their quality. We’ll have to be at our best to get a good result. But we will be at home with this fantastic atmosphere. The away game at Norwich was tough.
“We struggled in the first half. We had to adjust and, fortunately, were able to get the three points. But Norwich made that a really hard game for us.”
‘Mikel speaks about things that I have not heard before’