Izuchukwu OkosiArsenal manager, Mikel Arteta believes that the impressive Gunners have been worth their “extraordinary” total of 50 points at the halfway stage of the Premier League season.
The North London club reached the 19-game mark with a half-century of points after coming from behind to record a dramatic 3-2 win over Manchester United on Sunday afternoon at the Emirates stadium.
That represents their best performance in the history of the Premier League – even better than the feat achieved by the Invisibles who amassed 45 points at the stage of the 2003/2004 season.
Prior to the five-goal thriller, the Gunners’ lead at the top of the Premier League table had been cut back down to two points after Manchester City’s 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“I don’t want to talk about individuals,” he told Sky Sports. “We took the ball and made things happen. They are young but they are confident to do it.”
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Despite his earlier comments indicating he did not want to single out any individual player, Arteta did comment on the performance of two-goal hero Nketiah, admitting he did not expect the 23-year-old to have such a devastating impact in deputising for the injured Gabriel Jesus.
“What Eddie is doing is incredible. I cannot say we saw that coming,” Arteta added.
“We were hoping he could do that because of the way he is, his mentality. Also because of the way that his qualities fit in the team. Losing Gabi was a big blow but Eddie is responding in an exceptional way.”
Arsenal returns to Premier League action on February 4 against Everton but would face Manchester City next weekend in the four round of the FA Cup.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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