Mikel Arteta hailed Mikel Merino as ‘immense’ after the Arsenal midfielder continued his good form against Brentford.
Merino headed in the opener as Arsenal beat Brentford 2-0 on Wednesday night to move five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
The Spaniard also set up Bukayo Saka for the second and has been in impressive form of late.
Deputising at centre-forward amid injuries to Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz, Merino has two goals and three assists across his last four Premier League appearances.
Discussing Merino’s auxiliary role for Arsenal, Arteta lavished praise on his compatriot for his contribution in and out of possession.
“He was immense again. The way he scored, super smart,” Arteta said at his post-match press conference.
“His timing, the way he wins the position and execution. But his overall performance, with the ball, without the ball, I remember an action that he passed the ball to Martin in behind. Martin doesn’t chase it, he makes 40 metres to chase it to the corner flag and goes back, wins the ball back. He is everywhere and his goal, with that really good momentum at the moment – he makes the team much better.
“I said it earlier in the press conference. It’s curiosity and his will to learn and his will to help the team. He knew that we had a major problem from the beginning of the season. We lost Viktor, Kai was out and Gabriel Jesus was out. So we needed a solution.
“He did it last year really, really well. I think this season he’s probably taking it to another step because he’s able to do even more things. So I think the team is really grateful and he’s enjoying it.”
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