Unai Emery confirms banning sugary drinks at Arsenal training ground

Arsenal boss Unai Emery has confirmed he has banned sugary juice from the club's training ground as he seeks to force his players into greater shape.

Emery's meticulous attention-to-detail has impressed staff and players at Arsenal, and the coach explained at his press conference that he wants the players to cut down their sugar intake.

He has now encouraged players to drink freshly squeezed orange juice.

Emery said: 'Yes, this is true. I changed it. I like fruit a lot and I like fruit juice. But with a lot of sugar? Not very good.

'It’s for that and when I was very young, my father was coming every day with one fresh orange fruit juice. I like in my life, more of that.

'It’s for that, when I arrived here, I asked only for that from the cook. And the players, I think, are the same. They prefer their orange juice fresh.'

Emery is preparing his team for a trip to Cardiff on Sunday and he has Mesut Ozil back after illness forced the German out of the picture.

The coach added: 'He’s training normally with the group, in every session this week. We started on Tuesday and every day he has been training with the group. He’s OK. Also I’m looking at him well every day.'

Arsenal have been drawn against Sporting Lisbon, Qarabag and Vorskla in the Europa League, offering up lengthy trips to Portugal, Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

Emery said: 'First, it’s three teams and we’ll have the recipe for them. After this, we want to go far in this competition.

'Each match is different and each match involves a lot of travel. For some, the travel is very long but it’s like that. The adaptation for these three teams needs to be positive.

'When you play three matches in a week, it’s hard. There’s less time to prepare for the match and work physically, but we want it like that.

'We want to play three matches in a week with the league and the cups.'