Arsenal attacker, Alex Iwobi made the best of his cameo role against Everton on Sunday, such that many pundits have rated him high despite the limited time he had on the pitch at Emirates Stadium, London.
Arsenal had already notched all their goals in the 2-0 win against The Toffees, but Iwobi still put in a handsome performance, which footballlive.ng gathered won winks of many bookmakers, fans and analysts.
Such it was that, although Iwobi played for only 21 minutes, after getting off the bench in place of first goal getter, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang in the 69th minute, the Super Eagles star has received thumbs up for his efforts on Sunday evening.
The win was a fifth in succession for the North London side in all competitions and their fourth in the Premier League, after which many pundits surprisingly handed Iwobi a good rating despite not playing from the kick off.
Football.London wrote: “Gave Arsenal a burst of energy in the second half. One excellent run pressing Everton back earned him a standing ovation. 6.”
However, Arsenal boss, Unai Emery has hinted that Iwobi could have gone on earlier, had The Gunners’ goals not come when they did.
Emery said his decision not to introduce Iwobi just before Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring in the 56th minute because he wanted to correctly gauge his substitutions.
The Gunners took the lead against the run of play, with the France international having a poor game and the knowledgeable commentators had suggested that he was going to be replaced by Iwobi, only for Emery to change his mind.
Three minutes after Lacazette’s second EPL goal of the season, Aubameyang made it 2-0 in controversial circumstances, as television replays showed the Gabonese striker was offside in the build-up.
Iwobi eventually replaced Aubameyang in the 68th minute for his third Premier League appearance of the season, but Emery admitted the change almost came earlier.
Emery disclosed: “We needed to change something in this moment to give us another individual quality on the pitch. Then we scored the goal and I decided to stop it and think again about who we need next.”
