Gary Lineker has named the important thing player for Arsenal as they give the impression of being to clinch the Premier League title and win the Champions League.
Mikel Arteta’s side returned to the highest of the Premier League with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Newcastle United on Saturday.
The Gunners were the heavy favourites to win the title just a number of weeks ago but back-to-back defeats, the second against title title rivals Manchester City, blew the race wide open.
A clash with Eddie Howe’s Newcastle might have been one other banana skin for Arsenal but they clinched a very important victory due to Eberechi Eze’s early goal.
England legend Lineker was impressed by not only Eze’s contribution against Newcastle but additionally his post-match interview through which he said he was ‘loving’ being a part of a title-chasing team.
Lineker says Arsenal ‘need more players like Eze’ given the nervousness within the squad and suggested he should ‘take the team talks’ as an alternative of Arteta in the course of the run-in.
‘You have to give Eberechi Eze numerous credit because that was a stunning finish,’ Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast. ‘I saw his post-match interview and he’s so relaxed.
‘And you just think to yourself, perhaps put him in charge of this! In that interview he just said, “no, I’m not nervous, I just love playing football, it’s great and I need to be on this position”.
‘That is totally the appropriate attitude. It’s obviously easy to talk like that when you’ve just bent one into the highest corner and scored a hugely vital goal.
‘But I see it like that, that’s the way it needs to be for these players. I still think Arsenal look so edgy, they need more players like Eberechi Eze.
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‘I said early on in the game that the one person who looks really relaxed on the moment is Eze.
‘I think his interviews after the game, so relaxed, so calm, and he exudes confidence and he’s just said, “this is beautiful and this is what we want”.
‘I loved that, I believed it was such a fantastic interview. Possibly he should take the team talks over the subsequent few weeks…’
Newcastle legend Alan Shearer also noticed Arsenal’s ‘nerves’ in Saturday’s game and claimed Arteta’s side were ‘there for the taking’.
‘If only the rest of his teammates felt like that because there’s no way they’re feeling as relaxed as he’s because they were there for the taking, Shearer said.
‘Newcastle should have got something out of that game. Arsenal were there for the taking.
‘Strangely, I watched the Arsenal game last week against Man City and I watched the Arsenal game against Newcastle and I used to be more hopeful of them winning the league after losing last week than I used to be after watching them win on Saturday.
‘Simply because of how nervy and edgy they were against Newcastle, a team that were in rotten form.
‘But they’ve won the game and that’s the most vital thing. That’s what they have to do by some means from now until the end of the season.
‘They’re in there fighting and they’re in there winning. And that’s the most vital thing from an Arsenal point of view.
‘But they do look very, very nervous. They were there for the taking for Newcastle and Newcastle weren’t able to do it.’
Arsenal’s attentions now turn to the primary leg of their Champions League semi-final tie against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
European champions PSG face German giants Bayern Munich in the opposite semi-final.
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