Unai Emery explains Arsenal’s rejection of a handshake following Aston Villa’s win.
After his choice to forgo shaking hands with Arsenal’s staff after Saturday night’s 1-0 victory over the Gunners, Unai Emery says it was “nothing personal.”
At Villa Park, the north Londoners suffered just their second loss of the year, with John McGinn’s swivel-and-hit in the seventh minute ultimately proving to be the game-winning play.
Villa is currently only one point behind the Gunners in third place in the Premier League table despite Arsenal controlling the game for extended periods of time, especially either side of halftime.
However, there was an odd incident at the end of the game when Emery skipped the traditional handshake and ran to celebrate with Villa fans close to the touchline.
Asked about it at his post-match press conference, the former Arsenal boss downplayed his reaction and insisted it was simply a result of Mikel Arteta not being in the dugout, with his compatriot forced to watch the game from the stands due to a touchline ban.
Quizzed on the handshake snub and whether he approached any of Arsenal’s staff at full-time, Emery said: ‘No, because Arteta wasn’t on the bench.
‘I gave my hand to the workers inside because they were there when I was there, but only with the people I coached with and who worked with me.
‘There was nothing personal. It was because it wasn’t Arteta. I respect a lot Arsenal and Arteta. I respect a lot the workers there. I have nothing negative against them.’
In Arteta’s absence, assistant Albert Stuivenberg was in the dugout with information relayed down to him from the directors box via coach Carlos Cuesta, who had an earpiece.
On his side’s performance against Arsenal, Emery said: ‘I’m very happy. It was a tough match and we were tired, but we started the game well. They were imposing their position on the pitch, but our goalkeeper was amazing.
We made an effort to hold onto possession and defend, but we fell short. We participated, and amid a challenging week, those three points were amazing. In addition to maintaining balance, we must be joyful.
“I will speak again when we are in game 30 or 32 and if we are in the same position as now then maybe I can speak about it,” he said when asked if Villa is a title contender.
We are not a contender right now because it is only game sixteen. We have to work to maintain our position in [the top four]. We are not winning games [away from home] the way we are here, so it is challenging.
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