Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has heaped praise on January arrivals Henrikh Mkhitaryan following their performances in their home debuts against Everton last weekend.
With record signing Aubameyang finding the net to register his first goal for the club following his arrival from Germany, Alexis Sanchez swapee Mkhitaryam helped himself to a hattrick of assists in the five one victory.
Wenger was obviously delighted with the impact of the duo and he felt it boded well the second half of the campaign and the future of the club.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media following the game, the Frenchman explained about Aubameyang.
‘I think that the quality of his movement was excellent, the quality of his finishing was excellent. But he is not completely at his best physically. He still has some work to do physically.’
With the prices being paid thesedays for players, Wenger also felt that given Aubameyang’s quality it was a really good deal for the club.
‘I think so, yes. Overall I believe that for that quality of striker is, on today`s market, a reasonable price.’
Adding that he expected improvement from him once he’d gelled with the team properly and people better knew what to expect from him.
‘He looks always to give a problem to the defenders by his movement. I feel that once he is in front of you, it is very difficult to catch him back. I liked the quality of his movement, I must say. He is always looking to go in to spaces and it is very difficult for defenders to cover. When we know him better and understand him better, I think he will be more dangerous.’
With Mkhitaryan already making his substitute debut, Everton was of course his full debut and on home soil.
‘He is a good link player and he works very hard as well, you know. Overall, I think he looked well-accepted by the rest of the team and was understanding very well how we want to play.’
Asked about the move from Manchester and the swap deal struck, he said simply.
‘He didn`t play there so I was not too surprised. He was not playing at Manchester United and they got one more player who plays in a similar position with Sanchez. I am not responsible for Manchester`s decisions. I am responsible for Arsenal`s decisions – that is enough for me. They had their reasons. They have a world-class player in Sanchez and that obstructed him.’
Adding about his performance.
‘I do not know, I have not exactly the 1,300 games in my memory but there are some good debuts. I don`t know if that`s better, the only thing I can say is that it was a convincing debut that shows that he has the level to play with us.’
Wenger also admitted that the arrival of both given our departures had lifted spirits and standards.
‘Yes, it’s always when you have new players it gives always a little positive swing. It wakes everybody up as well, because there’s suddenly competition so they have to live with that as well. Overall, I think as well we have a game based on team spirit so that kind of acceptance is very important, and when they show on a football field that they accept our game, they are even easier to integrate into the team.’
There will undoubtedly still be a mini inquest over the summer as to Wenger’s future, but a noticeable uplift in consistency of results between now and the end of the of the season could go a long way to determining how strong that inquest is and both new arrivals will have a massive part to play in deciding that.
