Competition: Takehiro Tomiyasu
(Picture: Action Images via Reuters)Takehiro Tomiyasu has vowed to fight for his place in the Arsenal team and believes competing with Ben White will make him a better player.
The Japan international was last season a regular for Arsenal, after joining them from Bologna in a deal worth around £16million, but has since lost his starting place to White, who has shifted from the heart of defence to right-back.
Tomiyasu, who did start Thursday night’s win over Bodo/Glimt, says he must expect competition at a club like Arsenal and is ready to compete for his spot in Mikel Arteta’s team.
“For me it doesn’t matter which competition I play. Even if it is Europa League or a cup game, I want to help the team on the pitch,” he said. “But if you want to get back your position you have to be much, much better. Today was not my top, top performance so I am not satisfied with my performance.
“If you are playing in a big club, like Arsenal, there is always competition with the other players. Competition makes me a lot better. To be fair, he (White) is doing very well, he is doing fantastic. I need to learn from him a lot of things during the training sessions as well.”
Arsenal cruised to victory at home on Thursday against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League, with striker Eddie Nketiah opening the scoring in a 3-0 win after 23 minutes. Rob Holding headed home a second four minutes later and Fabio Vieira wrapped up the win with a late goal before the end.
“It was really good to get three points and a clean sheet as well,” said Tomiyasu. “For me it was not an easy game. After Eddie’s goal and Rob’s goal, the game was a bit scrappy. We couldn’t control the game for 90 minutes, so for me it was not enough. I am not happy with my performance.”
The Gunners have made a flying start to the season and they go into Sunday’s match at Emirates Stadium against Liverpool sat top of the Premier League. Arteta’s side have lost just once in all competitions and they beat Bodo/Glimt to stay top of their Europa League group too.
Liverpool, in contrast, have struggled this season and they are ninth in the League, 11 points behind Arsenal but with a game in hand.
Confidence is high at Arsenal after their start and Tomiyasu has revealed the squad is now fearless, however he insists Liverpool cannot be underestimated, even after their tough start.
“Liverpool is still Liverpool. Of course it will not be an easy game,” said Tomiyasu. “As I said everyone needs to be helping the team. But we are better than last season and we are confident to beat them. We have no fear. We are playing at home with 60,000 people behind us. We need to try and get three points.
“To be fair, the atmosphere of the dressing room is very good. We are confident and we are top of the League. We are ready to beat them. We have got a lot of games in October until the World Cup, so every player has to be ready to play, to help the team.”
