James McNicholas of The Athletic has been discussing Mohamed Elneny following Arsenal’s Premier League opener at the weekend during a recent episode of the Arsecast Extra.
Mikel Arteta’s side got off to a good start on Saturday, beating Fulham 3-0 at Craven Cottage thanks to goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (as per BBC Sport). Having spent the majority of last season on loan with Besiktas in Turkey, the Egyptian returned to the Emirates Stadium and was selected by his former teammate to start in the midfield alongside Granit Xhaka.
The 28-year-old’s display in the weekend’s fixture earned him an impressive performance rating of 7.2/10 (as per WhoScored.com) which prompted a discussion on the podcast with regards to the player’s future. Here is what the journalist had to say:
“All the indications are that Mikel Arteta is, at the moment, inclined to keep him around.
“He’s just quite a handy player, I don’t think anyone is saying he’s world-class, or he should start every game, or anything like it. But in terms of a dependable squad player where you know approximately what you’re going to get [from] them, even if there are limitations to that, I think he has an obvious use. Arteta couldn’t have been more full in his praise of Elneny after the game. I think all the signs are he’s going to be around.”
Would you like to see Elneny stay at Arsenal this season?
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TIF Thoughts…
The player’s recent performances both in the Community Shield final and versus Fulham may have persuaded Mikel Arteta to give the former FC Basel midfielder another chance to prove his worth at Arsenal.
The Gunners did re-sign Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid on loan for the season and we may see him starting alongside Xhaka in the midfield pivot more often once he is deemed fit enough and ready but based on what we’ve seen so far, in our view, Elneny is yet to put a foot wrong this season and is worthy of his place in the starting eleven.