Arsenal boss hails trio for stand-out displays in West Brom win

Arsene Wenger has praised Mohamed Elneny, Nacho Monreal and Alexandre Lacazette for their performances for Arsenal against West Bromwich Albion last night.

The Gunners snatched a 2-0 win in the Monday Night Football encounter at the Emirates Stadium yesterday, but the scoreline doesn’t reflect the overall play.

West Brom really brought the game to us in the opening half of the match, and we should consider ourselves lucky to have gotten to the half-time interval 1-0 up, and Lacazette was the man to put us in front.

Wenger refused to save all the praise for the striker however, and had to give a special mention to both Monreal and Elneny.

“[Monreal and Elneny] were outstanding, both of them,” Wenger said.

“I am pleased for both of them of course, but especially for Elneny because he has not always played, but what he did tonight was very positive.

“The two of them are top players who have a fantastic mentality.”

Of course the Frenchman’s brace did get him his own special mention, and Wenger claims Lacazette is adapting well to the physical aspect that the Premier League poses.

“He’s not only a goalscorer, his link up play is good,” Wenger added. “He fights as well, he’s not fazed by the physical challenges that West Brom gave us and overall he looks to adapt quickly and very well.

“I took him off because he was tired. He had an opportunity to score a hat-trick but I gave him the penalty as well … what you want is to win the game and not to take any gambles because if they come back to 2-1 it can be nervy.”

Should Wenger have kept the striker on the pitch to try and land his hat-trick? Should Elneny be given more regular action? Who was your Man of the Match?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Elneny lacazette Monreal West Brom

12 Comments

  1. Elneny is not the sleekiest player or stylish player. He might not be adventurous but I like his one touch play. Always available for a pass and doesn’t hold onto the ball for a long time once he sees a player available He releases the ball immediately.

    Having said that, I feel He will be better if He improves on some aspect of his game. I feel He has more to offer. That’s what I think.

    1. Elneny in his first season slightly outperformed Xhaka in his first season.To me he’s far better.He has improved so much this season and I hope he won’t be benched.He’s a defensive midfielder but people confuse him to be a box to box player just because he’s everywhere.He’s really good in 1v1’s and is usually positionally excellent.His passing is also very good.I look forward to seeing him build on his performances and have a break out season.

      1. I think he, Elneny, is overpraised on hre. He is though certainly a good squad player and I too think him better than Xhaka who, frankly , has been a flop for the fee paid. Too once paced, careless in passing, immobile and poor positional sense. I would sell him and buy a top level replacement. RIGHT NOW ELNENY DESERVES A REGULAR PLACE BUT HE IS NOT THE LONG TERM TOP PLAYER WE HAVE NEEDED SINCE GILBERTO AND VIERA LEFT.

        1. …by all accounts that xhaka was second choice the first choice being rabiot, still there’s no good reason why the young man should not improve (imo)…cut the kid some slack;

  2. All three put in excellent shifts, especially Monreal.

    Although months away, the January transfer window might be the most compelling month
    in recent memory for the club.

    Will Giroud hand in a transfer request if his minutes
    continue to be of the sub variety and would Arsenal
    seriously reject a $40M offer from Everton?

    If PSG are serious about providing Sanchez a lucrative way out of London would Wenger and the board seriously consider saying NO to a $40+M offer, or possible swap deal( Draxler, Moura, Rabiot)
    from the Paris giants?

    If Inter Milan or Fenerbache come calling with a
    tempting offer for Ozil will the German be packing
    his bags and heading for greener pastures?

    With an opportunity to net over $100M in these player sales or the possibility of acquiring talented
    players such as Di Maria, Rabiot, Moura, Draxler, Jao Mario etc in swap scenarios it will be interesting to see what direction the Club decides to go come January.

    IMO, even with Ozil and Sanchez featuring the rest of the season this Arsenal squad is not challenging for the top 4.

  3. They all played much better in the 2nd half. Was lucky with some of the decisions going our way. Well done to Nacho ?
    Wth was Sanchez doing with all the showboating!!!

  4. Monreal save our butts with that goal line clearance, and was everywhere fighting tooth and nail. Easily MOTM. And I hope people see now that Ramsey is nowhere near Ozil’s level of creativity. Ozil created more in 10 minutes than Ramsey did in the whole game. He’s good at going forward as a B2B midfielder, but a number 10 he is not.

    1. Dude – you must have watched a different game to me.

      Thought the absolute opposite. Don’t see how Ozil gets back in the team

      At he’s best Ozil is absolutely stunning – but he’s always a luxury player – and can’t often justify that

  5. Elneny at £5m is far better value for money than Xhaka and Mustafi who cost around £65m combined.Elneny along with Monreal was outstanding against West Brom whilst Xhaka and Mustafi were at best bang average.How on earth the ref did not award a penalty for the clear foul on JJR is beyond me.Unfortunately Mustafi was culpable yet again when he committed himself to a ball,landed on his backside and was bailed out by the watchful Monreal. Xhaka merely plodded around the pitch with little positive effect and is a liability around his own penalty area. He is neither a defensive midfielder nor a box to box player like Ramsay who once again played well.Mr Wenger continues to play Xhaka and Mustafi to justify their price tags. To bench them would be an admission of his errors of judgement in the transfer market.

  6. It was great to see Lacazette score and play well and not be taken out too early, and Elneny was also solid, but Monreal WOW what a match! He’s been terrific lately.

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