Arsenal boss Unai Emery has told his players they're TOO FAT.

The Daily Express says Emery has built his reputation on a high-energy style of play and has set rigorous targets for his performance team to achieve after another year in which Arsenal missed out on elite European competition.

He believes players need to lose on average 1.3kg of fat – nearly three pounds.

It is not that his players are overweight; the team led by Darren Burgess have been tasked with replacing that with 1.23kg of 'lean' mass – muscle.

There will be little scope for excess baggage with Emery demanding an extra 28.89km from each of his players this season. Over the course of 38 matches, that equates to an extra 760m per man, almost half-a-mile more every game.

The new manager also wants to see what the club admits is a “historically poor" record of availability of players due to injury climb above 90 per cent.