Ian Wright was ‘nervous’ for £21m Arsenal player versus Chelsea

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Arsenal legend Ian Wright has praised defender Jakub Kiwior after his ‘very good’ performance against Chelsea.

Mikel Arteta decided to take Rob Holding out of the firing line on Tuesday night.

Holding has been deputising for William Saliba as Arsenal’s right-sided centre back, partnering Gabriel Magalhaes.

Holding has tried his best but has struggled at times, especially against Erling Haaland last week.

That’s a tough assignment for anyone but Arteta decided to go with January signing Jakub Kiwior instead of Holding.

Kiwior joined Arsenal from Spezia for £21million in January but had only played 14 minutes of Premier League action before Tuesday.

The Poland international came in and impressed, meaning he may well stay in the Arsenal team whilst Saliba is out.

Kiwior racked up three interceptions and four clearances as well as one blocked shot and one successful aerial duel in a 3-1 win over Chelsea.

Going up against Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wasn’t supposed to be easy but Kiwior saw him off inside 45 minutes.

Ian Wright praises Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior

Kiwior can be proud of his first Premier League start and he has now received some deserved praise from Ian Wright.

The Arsenal legend has been speaking on Wrighty’s House in the aftermath of Tuesday’s victory.

Wright admitted that he was actually ‘quite nervous’ for Kiwior before the game kicked off.

Chelsea lined up with Aubameyang up top whilst Raheem Sterling and Noni Madueke offered width.

On their day, those players can cause real problems and Kiwior’s first Arsenal start coming against them could have been a problem.

However, Kiwior impressed and Wright felt that he looked ‘very good’ against a fairly toothless Chelsea side.

Wright added that Kiwior looked ‘stable’ and ‘competent’, especially for a left-footed defender starting on the right side of defence.

“I was quite nervous for Kiwior,” said Wright. “For a left-footed centre half, I thought he did really well but saying that, you can’t take away from the fact that Chelsea weren’t really creating too much but he looked very good, he looked very… how can I say it… stable. He looked competent, that’s what it was,” he added.