Arsenal winger Alex Iwobi has revealed details of a conversation he had with manager Arsene Wenger, where the French boss told him exactly what to improve on in order to force himself back into the first-team reckoning on a regular basis.
The Nigerian wide player has made eight appearances for Arsenal so far and is seen as one of their best prospects for the years ahead, but he knows what he needs to work on to be a regular starter for the club. He told Arsenal.com:
The boss always says that for me to earn my spot back, I need to work defensively and add goals and assists to my game, which I’ve been trying to do
I’ve been working on that, especially in pre-season. It’s something I have to add to my game to improve it in the long run.
Iwobi was born in Lagos, Nigeria but joined Arsenal as a 13-year-old in 2004, progressing through the Gunners’ youth ranks until 2015, when he made his first team breakthrough.
He made 21 appearances for Arsenal in his debut season, and went on to make 38 appearances for the first team in 2016-17.
Iwobi has acknowledged that he is not alone when it comes to getting better though, as his team-mates are there to help him:
Everyone [helps] really. If Sead or Hector are behind me, they’ll tell me when to go forward, when to come back.
They speak to me and tell me where to be. Steve Bould has helped me tactically too.
The winger is hoping to get a chance to make an impact against league leaders Manchester City at the weekend, and called for his side to be defensively sound when they face Pep Guardiola’s free-scoring outfit:
They’ve been scoring goals for fun and they’re very dangerous going forward, so we’ll have to do well tactically and defensively to be able to stop that.
With the attacking players we have, we’ll always create chances and should be able to get a couple of goals, but we need to tighten up in defence, especially against a team like Man City.
Arsenal take on Manchester City at the Etihad at 14:15 GMT on Sunday.
