After an impressive display against Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup, the FC panel assess Lucas Perez’s role at Arsenal.
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Despite being highly regarded as the Emirates, Apkom has struggled to break through into Arsenal’s starting XI – atlhough he can take inspiration from team-mate Alex Iwobi’s rise. On his debut he was drifting into the harmless areas but that might have been a confidence thing.
“That [the two goals against Nottingham Forest] will boost his morale”. [Alexis] Sanchez has been playing as a false nine, so Perez definitely gives them another option. He won’t get bullied, he’s got a bit of pace about him. “I think as well he has the engine to have an impact with his runs”, the Arsenal boss explained. It’s a contrast to what they had already and that’s what they needed.
“He’s come from Deportivo and got 17 goals last season but before that he wasn’t setting the world alight”.
Elsewhere, Freddie Ljungberg, who is now coaching at London Colney, says Xhaka reminds him of a former teammate.
“But I think we deserved one or two goals, it’s very disappointing for my players because they gave everything and did a lot of running but football is a technical sport and Arsenal had better technique than us”.
Having struck his first Arsenal goal at Hull City in last week’s Premier League 4-1 win at the KCom stadium, Xhaka carried on from where he left off, not only with the goal, but with his commanding midfield presence.
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“I think some people wanted some signings in the summer but everyone knows English clubs have a lot of money at the moment and if you ask for a player they raise the prices”. Arsenal’s style of play has often been to cross the ball into Giroud, as that is where his biggest strengths lie, but with Lucas Perez, the feeders of the ball can finally attempt a variation of passes in order to get our newest face in front of goal.
