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Arsenal hero Ian Wright has shared his thoughts on Mikel Arteta’s first match in charge.
After being appointed as Unai Emery’s permanent replacement last week, Arteta was in the dugout for the first time on Thursday.
His Gunners side were forced to share the points with Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth at a wet and windy Dean Court stadium.
Ozil was restored to the starting lineup after being injury / dropped by former interim boss Freddie Ljungberg.
Ian Wright rates Mesut Ozil’s ‘brilliant’ performance at Bournemouth
Asked on Match of the Day whether there were positives to take from the 1-1 draw, Wright praised Ozil for his performance: ‘Absolutely. ‘[Arsenal had the] most shots they’ve had in an away game this season. We were wasteful in the final third, some of the decision-making was poor.
‘But Arsenal should have punished Bournemouth with more clinical finishing.’
‘Ozil was brilliant today. Bournemouth gave him too much space. You could see Arsenal’s players getting forward right until the end.
‘There was much more intensity. Arsenal could have won that game but there were plenty of positives and I was very happy with what I saw today.’
Wright and Arteta were both impressed by Mesut Ozil
Arteta was also impressed by Ozil’s display following his first game in charge of Arsenal.
‘To be fair his attitude in training since the day that I walked in the building has been incredible,’ Arteta said after the draw against Bournemouth (via Metro).
‘I’ve seen this. I’ve said that I was going to give a clean slate to everybody and it was fair to give it to him.
‘When we did the game preparation and were watching the opponents, where we could hurt them, we believed that he could be a key point.
‘We prepared the game like this with him.
‘He responded, did what he had to do, and we could’ve scored two or three goals because of him.’
