Football

Mikel Arteta sends message to Willian after his first Arsenal goal


Willian scored a fine free-kick (Picture: Getty Images)

Mikel Arteta called for Willian to show his quality more consistently after scoring his first goal for Arsenal since signing from Chelsea last summer.

The Brazilian winger scored a magnificent free-kick to seal a 3-1 win for the Gunners over West Brom.

Goals from Willian, Nicolas Pepe and Emile Smith Rowe ensured West Brom were relegated from the Premier League, with Matheus Pereira’s fabulous solo run and finish unable to save them from the drop.

Arteta was delighted that his side bounced back from the disappointment of midweek, when they were knocked out of the Europa League by Villarreal, and he was pleased by the quality of the three goals.

However, he wants to see that more regularly from all three goalscorers.

‘It’s the first Premier League goal for Emile,’ Arteta told BT Sport. ‘So we are demanding him standards here.

Arteta wants more from Willian (Picture: Getty)

‘He’s playing at a top club and because he’s done well, when we look at those demands he hasn’t done that enough and we cannot pull those demands.

‘Willi we have to, because he’s done it in the past and we have to demand it much more.

‘Same with Nico, he needs to do that in a more consistent way. But with the young kids, patience.’

He added in his post-match press conference: ‘Willian has done it in the past.

‘That’s the big difference. He’s done it for many years and achieved big things in the game. Somehow this season we haven’t managed to get the best out of him.

‘It’s true that he had some spells that we could see highlights of things he can do and today was a good example of that.’

On the performance as a whole, he added: ‘We needed that win. It has been a while since we won at home.

‘We scored three fantastic goals and we had some great spells in the game. When we conceded the goal we did look nervy.

‘We knew the necessity to win the game. They scored out of nothing and then throw everything at you, they know the situation they are in and we struggled to play that kind of game.

‘We scored three fantastic goals but we missed some big chances, too.’

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