After all the commotion about Aaron Ramsey’s contract talks with Arsenal breaking down, I would not have been surprised if Emery had dropped him for yesterday’s game against Watford, but there was always the possibility that he may have put in an improved performance to show he deserves a new mega-deal, or at least put himself in the shop window.
But the Welshman was largely ineffectual, and even when he was given the captains armband after Cech’s injury he didn’t improve and he was finally hauled off by Emery and replaced by Alex Iwobi. And what a difference that made! The Nigerian international looked extremely lively yet again and had a hand in both of our goals, so maybe he could demote Ramsey to a place on the bench for the forseeable future, or at least until we can sell the Welshman in January.
Emery admitted that he wanted to see Iwobi get more forward into the spaces that Ramsey would usually take over. He has the quality to play right or left, to do maybe more one-on-one [take-ons] against the opposition,” he said. “I want him to stay more near the box, for scoring and to be more aggressive and find assists for his teammates.”
With Ramsey’s reputation on the slide along with his performances, do you think Iwobi has earned an extended run in the Arsenal first team?
Sam P