Alex Iwobi: Emery’s ways benefiting me a lot more than the previous Wenger regime

Arsenal midfielder Alex Iwobi says he’s benefiting a lot more since Unai Emery replaced Arsene Wenger in north London.

Emery replaced Wenger at Arsenal after the Frenchman spent almost 22 years at the club. Despite Arsenal’s shaky start to the new season, Iwobi says Emery’s arrival spells exciting times for the north Londoners and he’s becoming sharper as a player too.

“It’s benefiting me a lot more,” he said when discussing the coach’s methods to Arsenal Player. “It’s making me feel a bit sharper, I’m doing things with a bit more intensity. It’s not just for me, though, I feel like I’m helping the team a lot more.”

“It’s exciting times to be fair,” he said of Emery’s arrival. “Everybody’s enjoying and buying into the new ideas. For me personally, I’m enjoying the new sessions, the new training methods and the new ideas, so I’m enjoying my time with him.

“He demands a lot. He’s a lot more intense, a lot of high pressing and keeping the ball so that it benefits us if we have the ball. It’s good for us, especially the attackers who like to have the ball a lot.”

Iwobi, 22, the nephew of former Hull City midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha, arrived in England when he was four and joined the Gunners when he was still in primary school at the age of nine.

Wenger has been the only manager at the club during the Nigeria international’s time with the Gunners, but the midfielder is relishing the change.

“Whenever something in the system changes, you have to prove yourself again,” he said. “But wherever you go, you have to prove that you’re better than whoever else is on the team. At a team like Arsenal, that’s always going to be hard, so I always have to be on it in training and matches.

“I’ve got to be different. It’s going to be hard because we’ve got so many attackers and so many world-class players, so I’ve just got to prove that I’m on that level or as good as them so that I can be ahead of them, which is my aim.”

Iwobi has had a bright start to the Premier League campaign, scoring once and assisting another in two of Arsenal’s first three games.

The Gunners have been criticised for playing to openly so far this season. Their 3-1 victory over West Ham does not reflect what could have been on Saturday afternoon, as Arsenal’s tendency to commit both full-backs to their attacks often left them exposed on the flanks, which the Hammers should have done better at exploiting.

The Gunners have already been punished for this against top sides and these frailties will continue to hamper their progress this season if they don’t regain some discipline when going forward.

Arsenal play Cardiff City next Sunday.

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