Interview

Maitland-Niles - We executed our plan perfectly

Ainsley Maitland-Niles could not keep the smile off his face as he held the Emirates FA Cup in his hands.

Speaking exclusively to Arsenal Digital, our left wing-back at Wembley discussed his emotions, the team's response and carrying out the gameplan.

 

This is what he said:

 

on the feeling of winning the Emirates FA Cup…

It’s the first time of grabbing it myself and it’s a fantastic feeling, it’s indescribable really. I’m proud of every one of my teammates and staff members for putting the plan into motion and we executed it perfectly.

 

on whether the trophy is heavier than he thought…

Definitely, I’m struggling to keep it up!

 

on the team’s response to going 1-0 down…

That’s what we’ve been working on since lockdown, having a positive attitude, always wanting to win games even when we do go down, and playing our football no matter what happens. It prevailed today and it was fantastic to see the boys turn that around and really go all out attack to win the game for us.

 

on playing at left wing-back…

I love it over there. When I’m on the pitch I thrive when I get more minutes and no matter where I’m playing, I’m just happy to do a job for the team and bring him one of these at the end of the day, so it’s fantastic.