Ian Wright is bullish about Arsenal’s chances of beating the big teams in the Premier League going forward after they beat Manchester United 1- 0 at Old Trafford yesterday.
That win ended five years of no wins at a top-six side in the Premier League and after watching Arsenal’s performance in that game, Wright is confident that the team is entering a new era when they will beat any top-four team.
He claimed that under Mikel Arteta, the team has a clear direction in mind and because of that he is confident that playing big teams away from home will no longer be a problem.
He hailed Arteta for changing the culture and intensity of the team since he has been the club’s manager.
He also hailed the performance of Gabriel Magalhaes and Thomas Partey, the former played with a yellow card from the first half, yet he was outstanding.
‘It’s a massive win for Arsenal,’ Wright, who is the club’s second-highest scorer in the top-flight after Thierry Henry, told Premier League Productions as quoted by The Mail.
‘The thing is that since Mikel has been there, there has been progress. It’s changed in terms of the intensity, the culture and what he’s trying to do.
‘We saw as well with some of the players – Gabriel, on a booking in the first half and the way he played was brilliant, [Thomas] Partey as well. He’s slowly going to integrate the players he wants to play the system he wants to play.
‘What we’ve seen is the organisation of Arsenal, something that people have spoken about when it comes to a lack of intensity and lack of drive. We aren’t seeing that anymore.
‘People can say whatever they want about the Big Six and the records, but under Mikel I haven’t got a problem now playing any of them because we are more organised and know what we’re doing.
‘We have got a guy up front [Aubameyang] who if he gets chances will finish them and it’s a whole different structure at Arsenal. They can talk about not beating that top six as much as they want, we are going into a different era.’
