‘Thanks to him’ – Mikel Arteta credits substitute with the victory

Mikel Arteta has hailed Rob Holding for the part he played in helping Arsenal hold onto the three points against Wolves last night.

The Gunners earned a hard-fought 1-0 win away at the Molineux last night, with our grasp on the game in doubt after we suffered a red card. The manager opted to replace Bukayo Saka with Rob Holding after the loss of Gabriel Martinelli, switching our formation from 4-4-1-1 to a 5-3-1, and the English defender was put to his paces after his introduction.

He made a number of clearances and won key headers to deny our rivals, and the manager has moved to praise his defender.

“Today he deserves a lot of credit,” Arteta told Arsenal Media after the full-time whistle. “He was on the bench, he was ready to help. His attitude, his commitment to the team whether he plays every week or plays one minute, it’s incredibly good.

“He’s a really good influence for the rest. Today he really helped the team, the way he defended the box made a huge difference. Thanks to him we won the game.”

I can’t help but feel like Mikel is crediting himself for holding onto the win here, and I’m not sure I would hold that against him. Wolves were always going to be tough to beat, and doing so after playing for much of the second-half with 10-men deserves credit.

Holding did impress, as did Aaron Ramdale and Gabriel Magalhaes especially, and the return to winning ways could well be just in time for us to push for that all-important fourth spot.

Patrick