Interview

‘Alexis’ assist was a thing of beauty’

Arsene Wenger has described Alexis’ assist for Alex Iwobi on Sunday as “a thing of beauty”.

The Nigeria international’s first Premier League strike since January was a splendid team goal that started with goalkeeper Petr Cech and then swept upfield where a slick exchange of passes between Aaron Ramsey and Alex Lacazette left Alexis on the ball on the edge of the area.

The Chilean was surrounded by defenders but played in Iwobi with a superb backheel, and his teammate did the rest.

No wonder Arsene Wenger was gushing afterwards.

“It was a real thing of beauty,” the boss told Arsenal Player. “Alexis gave some great balls today and that was one of them.

“I like the fact that we didn’t concede goals, that we got the three points, that we played the third game in a row in six days and won the game, that’s what I liked. What I liked less is that on the focus sometimes I feel we eased off a bit and missed some passes that we are not used to missing because our concentration was a bit in and out. 

“It’s important to be imaginative [against a defensive team], and as well to move the ball quickly, but sometimes I felt with the desire to speed the game up we confused [ourselves] a bit, rushing the game and moving the ball quickly. 

“We rushed and wanted to go directly to the decisive ball, we were not patient enough and we lost some balls because of that. Overall we need creativity and the best example is certainly our second goal.”