Bukayo Saka and Mesut Ozil were singled out after the 4-0 thumping at the Emirates Stadium.
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown praised the contribution of Bukayo Saka and Mesut Ozil after his former club beat Newcastle 4-0 yesterday.
Speaking on Match of the Day 2, 11:05pm, 16/02, Keown was impressed by the performances of the duo, who are at different ends of their careers as a second half improvement was enough to earn Arsenal a comfortable victory in the end.
He said: “I’m gonna dig out Ozil for praise for once! He’s really important, spare player, through the compartments. Great ball from Ozil, some vision that he has. He was magnificent. He charges with the ball. Much more purpose in his play. He gets his reward but he deserved that goal. It’s really going well for him.
“Saka, 18 years of age, the way he threads it through his opponents’ legs, beautiful. Saka is a player going from strength to strength, keeps getting better and better.”
Saka is a player making the most of a tricky situation. He is a winger by trade but injuries have handed him an opportunity at left back, which he’s grabbing with both hands.
Mikel Arteta has clearly given him freedom to bomb on down the left hand side and his nutmeg to set up Nicolas Pepe for the second goal was full of class.
The game suited Ozil, a home match against a team who tend to defend deep and he did respond by getting on the ball as often as possible and trying to boss the game.
Keown is right to say he deserved the goal and these are exactly the games he can help Arsenal in, especially with the likes of Saka bombing on outside him.
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