Cajuste: These Are the Games You Want to Play In Friday, 27th Dec 2024 06:00 by Kallum Brisset Town midfielder Jens Cajuste says he is fully embracing the challenge of facing Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this evening as the Blues look to record a first-ever Premier League victory over the Gunners. Having lost four of their last five matches, Town will look to close out 2024 with two tough assignments against Arsenal and at home to Chelsea, which will also mark the halfway stage of their first top-flight season for 22 years. Title challengers Arsenal have not lost a match on home soil since April and Cajuste is aware of the many threats posed by Mikel Arteta’s side, particularly from set pieces. “These are the kind of games that you really want to play in,” the Napoli loanee said at his pre-match press conference. “It’s the ones that are tough, the ones where you really have to persevere. “There’s not many games in the season like playing at the Emirates so you just have to play it to the fullest and all of us are looking forward to it. “To be fair we work pretty well with set pieces before every game so we approach this game no differently, but we’ll probably have to take an extra look at Arsenal. “I started watching the Premier League in China. I don’t remember too much but of course Arsenal are a huge club and have definitely followed through the years.” This season is Cajuste’s first in England and is therefore experiencing the hectic Christmas schedule that has become tradition for the first time, something he enjoys. He said: “Maybe last season was something similar, not as tight as it is here of course but still a little bit. It’s different but enjoyable and I actually quite like it. It’s quite festive to be honest, I’m all for it.” The Blues enter Friday’s contest off the back of a hugely disappointing 4-0 defeat to Newcastle United at Portman Road last Saturday where they were ultimately outclassed from start to finish. Reflecting on the game, Cajuste said: “Of course you never want to play a game like that on your home field. It was a bad beat but it was also against a good team so we can’t take that away from them. We didn’t reach our level and they did so that’s what the result looks like.” On the Magpies’ third goal, he added: “It can happen, this is football and sometimes it doesn’t go the way you want it to. There’s not much more to say about that. Mistakes happen, my part and partly on Aro as well. “It happens to everybody at some point, it’s just about letting it go in the past and look forward to the next challenge. “When you have the ambition to play out from the back at some point you will lose the ball, it’s inevitable. When you’re trying to play out from the back you take some risk, especially against a team that presses as hard and as high as Newcastle. “But how else are you going to get better at it if you don’t do it and change your tactics? Let’s stick with it, learn from what happened and go on to the next one.” While Town sit 19th in the Premier League table, they can take confidence from previous results and performances against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, having beaten the former on their own patch and gained a credible point against the Red Devils two weeks later. “It was spectacular,” Cajuste said on the Spurs victory. “Everybody felt it in the team that it was a massive step forward. Of course, it was a great experience and fantastic support like always. It was a special moment for the whole club. “I think we followed-up pretty well. It was a good game but a win is better than a draw. It was two good back-to-back performances. Now we’ve had a little bit more of a slump but we’re working to get back there. “[The tackle on Alejandro Garnacho] is passé and we’ve got so many more games to come so I’ll put the focus there, but it was a great moment for sure. “We always have to play with belief otherwise why are you going on the field. You always believe that you can win, you always believe that you can get a result and it will be no different for this game.” After a slow start to the campaign following his arrival from Napoli in August, Cajuste has now started six of the last seven matches having been managing an ongoing knee issue. While also taking time to adapt to the style of the league and the Blues’ system, Cajuste has been one of Town’s standout performers in recent weeks and earned the club’s Player of the Month award for November. “I don’t know about fully settled,” the 25-year-old said. “I think it takes some time but I definitely feel like I’m getting into it more and learning as I go. I’m really comfortable with my teammates and the coaching staff here. “All I know is that I think I have another gear and another level. That’s what I’m pushing to show every game and then it will hopefully come naturally, but I know there’s definitely more in me. “I’ve been managing a knee problem from the summer but it definitely feels like that’s been settled now. Hopefully it will continue like that, you never know what happens during a season and injuries can come from out of nowhere, but knock on wood everything stays like it is and I can continue like this. “We’re one of the teams that has struggled the most with injuries. Of course, that has a massive impact when you’re not at the whole squad, but once we get all our players back I think we’re a serious threat.” On what he feels he has improved since his summer move, Cajuste added: “I’d say staying in the game, staying more focused for longer periods of the game and not drifting out because it’s essential. Any moment of the game can change in an instant, if you shut off for a second the opponent can score. “Like we saw against Newcastle if you switch off just for a moment a goal can come from nothing. I’d say it’s about working on keeping that focus for 90 minutes.” Cajuste is likely to start in midfield once again against Arsenal, but he will not be partnered by Sam Morsy after the Town captain was booked for a fifth time against Newcastle resulting in a one-game suspension. The Sweden international says each of the Blues’ midfield options, which include Kalvin Phillips, Jack Taylor and Massimo Luongo, bring different qualities and that gives manager Kieran McKenna plenty of options for his starting line-up with Phillips and Taylor the He said: “That’s why we have so many players in each position. It’s a long season, suspensions happen and injuries happen so everyone has to be ready at all times. I know each of the players are ready to step up when called for. “I haven’t played too many games with either of them [Phillips and Taylor]. That’s more of a question for the gaffer, it’s hard for me to say. “We all have different attributes and no player is the same as the other. We try to play with the same philosophy regardless of who you play alongside, we try to play the same style of football. “My main position isn’t really a goalscoring position, I play defensive midfield. Of course, I try and do my job for the team which isn’t always to try and shoot, but there will be moments throughout the season where I can create more opportunities. “I was pretty close against Newcastle, but there will be more moments. If I score, it’s more important if the team scores, that’s my main priority.” Cajuste, who says his midfield heroes include Andrea Pirlo, Sergio Busquets and Moussa Dembele, has heritage from Haiti in addition to his links to Sweden, China and the United States. There has not officially been a Haitian player in the Premier League, but Cajuste is as close as the Caribbean nation has come to being represented in England’s top level of football alongside Haitian-born Belgium international Hannes Delcroix, who featured last season for Burnley. “Am I the first Haitian in the Premier League? That’s the first time I’ve heard that,” he said. “I’ve never really lived in Haiti or visited, it’s more family on my father’s side. Hopefully I get the chance to visit and experience that, but I don’t know too much.”
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