Shkodran Mustafi scored the opening goal against Tottenham Hotspurs today, and the Arsenal man seems to admit that he was in fact offside.
The defender made his return from injury to start today’s crucial North London Derby match, and we can thank him for not only bagging the opening goal, but helping our boys to keep a clean sheet against our rivals in the 2-0 win.
The German international states that our team was very much deserving of our win over Tottenham, claiming the side showed great character today.
He said: “I think we had a few good performances, but the only important thing is to keep it up. I think we did well today. It was a derby, it’s always a special game, but I think we showed character, we were there in all the important moments and when you do all of that you win games.”
Shkodran went onto reveal that he in fact urged Ozil to whip the ball into him prior to his international team-mate arriving at the ball to take the set piece.
He added: “The thing is, as I was going up [Mesut Ozil] was on the other side of the pitch and I said ‘Mesut, please. Go to the ball and bring it in’. I know his left foot and I know his deliveries and if you have players that can put the ball in like that, you go in with belief. That’s the most important thing when you go up for corners and free kicks, the belief that you can score and with the team that we have and the quality that we have, you go in and try to get your head on the ball.”
The defender then seems to admit that he believes his goal should have been discounted for being offside when asked his view on the possible offside, replying: “Well, I was only happy that they didn’t blow the whistle. It happened to me against Chelsea, so this time I’m lucky to get away with it. This is football, we always get things against us and things for us at the end of the year it is always a draw, you get good things and bad things.”
Is the defender owning up to the offside here? Was Mustafi crucial in our win today? Have Arsenal shown they have the character to push on for a successful season?
Pat J