Mikel Arteta hailed Noni Madueke as a “special guy” after the winger scored the winner in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.
Madueke struck the decisive goal at the City Ground and Arteta believes the England international is beginning to show another level to his game.
“Noni, look at me, a smile on my face because he’s a special character,” Arteta said.
“He’s someone very much loved in and around the dressing room, the way he talks to people, he’s just a special guy.
“I think I saw an interview with our players where they were asking, who would you call if you had a problem? And some of them said Noni, which I was surprised about but I think it’s massive credit and explains the kind of person that he is.”
Arteta also praised Madueke’s growing influence on matches.
“He’s in a good moment,” he said.
“I think after the break, he’s showing something else, another level of anger and conviction as well in his actions and is becoming decisive in matches which is what we expect from a player like him.”
Arsenal were made to work hard for the victory, with Forest sitting deep and frustrating Arteta’s side for long periods.
“There have been other games where we’ve scored in the first half,” Arteta said.
“We’ve played 11 competitive matches and won ten. There are a variety of ways to win.
“They are extremely well organised, they put like a Christmas tree there and there is no space to play.
“You have to be so neat and tidy or otherwise generate a lot of chaos in the box whether in open play or set-pieces.”
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Arteta felt patience was key as Arsenal waited for spaces to open up later in the game.
“The longer game goes, we have to play a different game,” he said.
“Because the moment we start to ramp up our level of frustration, the game is going to be really dangerous for us because we’re going to take more risk, as we should, but the players occupying certain spaces to control the transitions are going to be instrumental.
“I had the belief that the moment the physical level dropped, the spaces would be a little bit bigger, the timing more, and we’ll be more efficient there, and the finishers delivered because the game changed.”
The victory made it ten wins from Arsenal’s first 11 competitive matches, and Arteta believes his side are in a strong position despite still having room to improve.
“11 games, ten wins, after inheriting 18 players coming from the World Cup,” he said.
“I think we’re in a good place, we can always improve and we should improve and that’s the ambition.
“It shows how difficult it is. To expect another kind of game, it’s not the reality of the league.
“We win in this way and almost every team is winning in that manner. I think the level has gone up again and we’ll have more and more surprises.”
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