“Thanks to him we won the game” – Mikel Arteta singles out ‘incredibly good’ 26-year-old for praise after Arsenal win
Mikel Arteta has heaped praise on Arsenal defender Rob Holding after Thursday night's win at Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Gunners manager believes the Englishman's performance in the final 20 minutes helped them win the game.
The Gunners were down to 10 men once again after Gabriel Martinelli was shown two yellow cards within seconds. Premier League referee Michael Oliver let play go on after the Gunners star tried to block a throw-in, but halted play as soon as the Brazilian committed another foul seconds later.
He went on to book the forward for both fouls - resulting in a bizarre red card. This meant the Gunners had to hold on to a one-goal lead for the remaining 20 minutes of the game.
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Arteta turned to Rob Holding straight away, and the defender stepped up to help them retain their lead. Speaking to the media after the match, the Arsenal manager said:
"Today he deserves a lot of credit. He was on the bench, he was ready to help. His attitude, his commitment to the team whether he plays every week or plays one minute, it's incredibly good. He's a really good influence for the rest. Today he really helped the team, the way he defended the box made a huge difference. Thanks to him we won the game."
Arteta worried after another red card for Arsenal
Mikel Arteta has revealed he is 'worried' after another red card was shown to his player. The Gunners have had a player sent off in four games out of a total of six games played in 2022.
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Martinelli, Gabriel, Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey have seen red for the Gunners in their last six matches.
"Very worrying. To be fair, it's the first time I've seen a red card like this in 18 years that I've been in this league. I think you have to be pretty willing to give a red card in that situation. But still it happened. We know that playing with 10 men in this league you're not gonna get points, enough points, the points that we want and we have to stop it," he said.
"But to be fair it's difficult to find more arguments and more ways to transmit that to the players. Everybody says it's the most disciplined group they've seen in the last 15 years, but still we are getting red card for other things," he added.
I’m upset because it’s difficult to accept that as a red card. But I am proud the team fought to keep the result and the win 💪 https://t.co/F5dm3adahc
Arsenal have a short break this week and will return to action on 19 February, when they take on Brentford in the league.