Angers SCO vs Paris Saint Germain - Unai Emery not distracted by title rivals as PSG prepare for Angers trip

Posted Thursday, April 13, 2017 by PA

Unai Emery has urged his players to forget about title rivals Monaco and Nice as Paris St Germain continue their bid for a fifth straight Ligue 1 crown.

Trailing Monaco by three points, with Nice a further point back, PSG have the chance to put the pressure on the leaders when they play before their rivals this weekend.

On Friday night, PSG face an Angers side who kept Monaco to a 1-0 scoreline last Saturday - meaning Emery is taking nothing for granted.

He told a press conference streamed on the club's website: "They are a strong team and they have confidence in themselves. After their defeat against Monaco they will want to give a good performance against us.

"It is important to win to keep up our momentum, never mind what the other teams do.

"All we want to do is win. There is great competition in the championship, Monaco and Nice are going well. That is why we have to continue on our path.

"There are seven games left, that is a lot of points to play for."

Hatem Ben Arfa is ill and joins Layvin Kurzawa, Julian Draxler, Thiago Silva and Grzegorz Krychowiak on the sidelines but Emery has Marquinhos, Thiago Motta and Javier Pastore available to him after recent injuries.

He said: "We often speak about the importance of Pastore to the squad. When he is absent from the team we miss him - we need his quality. He is fit now and that is good news.

"(Motta) trained normally yesterday and today he is fine. It is the same as with Pastore, he has had a lot of problems with his calf all season. When he is fit he is an important player for us because of his experience and the fact he is always involved. The team is better with him."

Emery may be talking up Angers' confidence but the hosts' coach Stephane Moulin expects a much tougher test than against Monaco and has warned that his team "could lose 8-0" if PSG are at the top of their game at Stade Jean-Bouin.

"Listen, you must not think that because we gave Monaco problems we will give Paris problems," he said.

"You have to put things in context. Paris put four past Monaco (in the Coupe de la Ligue final) and could have had more.

"You have to know who you are playing. I think right now Paris are superior to Monaco.

"(Playing PSG) is something different. They are a team built to win the Champions League. It is still the match of the year at Jean-Bouin, as for any other team.

"Anything is possible - including losing 8-0. There is less chance of us winning than them, but football has shown us that completely unexpected things can happen."