After Arsenal survived an early Champions League blow thanks to some last ditch defending, a few moments of magic from the second choice keeper David Ospina and some profligacy in front of goal from Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria, the Paris Saint-Germain fans were left cursing their luck after Alexis Sanchez popped up in the right place to rifle home the rebound from Alex Iwobi’s shot in the final 12 minutes of our group game.
Imagine how much more cheesed (or fromaged I should say) off they would have been if the Gunners had toddled off back to London with all three points in the bag. We would have loved it, of course, but even the most ardent Gooner would have to admit that we would scarcely have deserved them.
It could have happened, though, and according to the Arsenal academy graduate Iwobi it should have happened, as he explained in a report on the Arsenal website. Just five minutes after the equaliser, Sanchez turned provider and found the young Nigeria international who had made a great run into the box but fluffed his finish.
Iwobi should really have done better with both chances and although he is not beating himself up too much about it, admits that he could and should have won us the game and will be hoping to improve on the finishing part of his game from now on.
The 20-year old said, “I had the chance to score, but my main focus was to get it on target and also beat the goalkeeper, but it was a good save and I was unfortunate not to get the goal.
“The first chance I had I thought I was going to score [too], but I was just lucky Alexis put it away and I was just happy we were able to get a goal and come back into the game.
“I treat it game by game, like in the under-23s. I take it as it comes and I try to do the best I can. I’m not really fazed by the opponents, I just try to do my thing and try to go for the win.
“I think we performed very well and we got a good point. We fought back and we were able to get a point, we weren’t able to get the second goal which we should have got. I should have got it to be fair, but we were a little bit unlucky.”
He certainly seems to have the right attitude about it all and is doing very well considering his age and experience, so do you think we will see better finishing and more goals from Iwobi as the season goes on?
Bob.