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| Guendouzi against Manchester City: Getty |
One of Unai Emery’s five signings in the 2018/19 summer transfer window is already making headlines and getting applauses from soccer pundits in TV-media following the above par performance in his first English Premier League appearance against an indisputably good Manchester City. He’s only 19, Matteo Guendouzi- just joined the club in July, 2018 (11th) on a £7 million deal from a French Ligue 2 side FC Lorient where he only made 26 appearances in his 2 seasons, and with that little experience in a big league, it would be hard to expect a decent outcome on his first appearance.
Former Arsenal Ian Wright who’s a club legend largely praised
the youngster when asked about the best thing against Man City & he also
acknowledged Matteo’s role on the first goal of the match when Sterling
dribbled past him & beat a helpless Petr Cech.
“Just the fact that he showed a spirit and a fight and a
drive that I’ve not seen from an Arsenal player for a long time”
“In respects of playing and creating and causing Manchester
City any problems, I didn’t see anything,” he said. Source Daily
Star.
Martin Keown another Arsenal former player said;
“Guendouzi the 19-year-old was playing in there and I thought
he was quite brave,”
“Things didn’t go well for him at times but he showed a good
energy”
Guendouzi’s match rating against Manchester City in most
media outlets is 5/10 on a team average of 5.5, much credit going to his
energy, and willingness in the match to make up for his errors during his first
90 mins in the English Premier League.
His match stats according to SQUAWKA
are as follows;
72 - Most Touches
47 - Most Passes Attempted
3 – Most fouls won
Arsenal Fans were quite impressed with the 19-year-old’s performance
and showered him praises on social
media. However, Arsenal Fans think he’s going to have to mature sooner
going to be the key after after 22 years of Arsene Wenger” said one fan.
Being his second time playing for the club, the young player
is already poised for a great future with the Gunners, in the pre-season match
he also put up a great performance – in the
International Champions Cup against Atletico Madrid.
The club faces a stiff Chelsea while away at Stamford Bridge
in the English Premier League and having praises thrown at him by the boss, he
might earn his 2nd start for the club.
London Derby Chelsea vs Arsenal kick off time 18:30 Central
Africa Time, Saturday, August 18, 2018.
