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‘Pleasure to watch’: David Dein gushes over £160k-a-week Arsenal man

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Former FA and Arsenal Vice Chairman David Dein speaks during the Soccerex European Forum (Reuters)
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David Dein has lavished praise on Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.

The Gunners boast a five-point lead over Manchester City in the Premier League title race, going into Christmas.

Even the most optimistic of Arsenal supporters wouldn’t have envisaged this scenario, having finished fifth in the Premier League last time around.

But the addition of Gabriel Jesus, the integration of William Saliba and the rebirth of Granit Xhaka in midfield has the North Londoners looking terrifyingly good thus far.

Whether they can win the title or not remains to be seen, but they’re already over-achieving based on pre-season expectations.

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Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images

Not only that, but Arsenal are playing a brand of football which has shades of Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger, two coaches who Arteta either worked under and played under.

And former Gunners chief Dein has admitted that he’s been mightily impressed by the £160,000-a-week Spaniard [The Sun].

He told Sky Sports: “I think he’s doing really well and you can see the way the team are playing. He’s obviously had a good intuition from Arsene [Wenger] and Pep [Guardiola] because he’s playing their type of football, which is a pleasure to watch.”

Arteta needs Jesus scoring again, though.

Teams without a prolific number nine often fall short in the Premier League in regards to winning the title and although the Brazilian can make immense at times, his goalscoring must improve.

The former Manchester City hitman hasn’t scored since October 1 across all competitions, something he’ll have to improve on during the second half of the campaign.

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Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images