Arteta says watching one Arsenal player last night made him really nervous

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has told Football London that Ainsley Maitland-Niles seriously worried him last night.

Maitland-Niles strolled up to his spot kick and looked like he didn’t have a care in the world, as he dispatched the ball beyond Adrian in the Liverpool goal.

Maitland-Niles was far more composed than his manager though.

And his unconventional technique did not do much for the Arsenal boss’s nerves.

“I told him in the dressing room I’m going to have a heart attack, because with this body language! And then he puts it in the net which is the reason why he was one of the subs [that came on],” Arteta said.

Maitland-Niles has now scored penalties for Arsenal twice, and looks completely unflustered under high pressure.

His composure is likely to be one of the reasons why he has been kept around at Arsenal, after a lot of speculation about his future.

The newly capped England international was linked with a move away earlier this summer, but Arteta has fought to keep him around, and it is easy to see why.

Maitland-Niles remains supremely talented, and now seems to have an important function in Arsenal’s team.

Maitland-Niles’s penalty helped Arsenal get through to the League Cup quarter finals, where they face a tough test against Manchester City.