By William Schomberg
HT Picture
LONDON, – Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta praised his emergency centre-forward Mikel Merino for clinching one other three Premier League factors for the north Londoners on Sunday when he scored the one objective in a 1-0 win over metropolis rivals Chelsea.
Merino – a midfielder by commerce – confirmed the instincts of a seasoned striker when he glanced a header from Martin Odegaard up and over Robert Sanchez within the Chelsea objective, the ball dropping into the web on the far put up.
“The way he’s approaching this is incredible,” Arteta instructed reporters. “He wants to understand everything. He wants to learn from it. He’s very critical of himself all the time. And at the end, the reality is that he wins matches for us.”
Merino scored twice in a 2-0 win over Leicester Metropolis in February when he got here on as an alternative to guide Arsenal’s assault and he has been taking part in in that place ever since.
Requested in regards to the 12-point hole between Arsenal and league leaders Liverpool, Arteta stated the onus was on his facet to win each sport and see if they may rebuild their problem for the title.
“We have to win our matches. Win against Fulham and we will be close,” he stated, referring to the Gunners’ subsequent league sport on April 1, after the worldwide break and an FA Cup weekend.
Similar to Arsenal, Chelsea had been lacking a number of of their typical ahead gamers, chief amongst them their high scorer this season, Cole Palmer, who picked up a muscle damage in coaching earlier than the go to to the Emirates.
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca stated he didn’t suppose Palmer can be out there for England who’ve two World Cup qualifying matches in opposition to Albania and Latvia over the subsequent eight days, and he hoped the break would do him good.
“We don’t wish players injury but in Cole’s case, in this moment probably he could get some rest, physically and mentally, it could be good,” Maresca stated. Emirates Stadium England Arsenal Chelsea