“He did really well”- Arteta praises “great” January signing after AFC win

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta praised defender Jakub Kiwior for his performance against Chelsea last night and said the player “did really well”.

The Gunners were 3-1 winners against their London rivals and bagged three inside 35 minutes courtesy of a Martin Odegaard double and the other coming from Gabriel Jesus.

Kiwior played the full 90 minutes against the Blues and started alongside Gabriel. However, the Brazilian sustained a knock and was then replaced by Rob Holding.

Last January, the 23-year-old joined Arsenal from Italian side Speiza for a fee of around £20 million. Since then he’s played three Premier League matches for Arteta’s side.

Speaking after the game (as quoted by Fabrizio Romano on Twitter), the Gunners boss was full of praise for the Polish defender and was clearly impressed by his performance.

He stated, “I really like Kiwior, that’s why we signed bim. He’s been getting better and better.

“He’s more settled. He has the potential at his age to be great and he had a big task against the players he had to face today, and I think he did really well”.

With Gabriel potentially missing the trip to Newcastle United this weekend, the January signing may end up starting at centre-back once again.

Arteta admitted he was “concerned” about the Brazilian’s injury after the game in a post-match press conference.

This could be a big opportunity for Kiwior to make a statement and prove that he’s not just cover for William Saliba and Gabriel.

However, it’ll be a tough task for the centre-back. Newcastle are having a tremendous season and he will certainly be tested over the course of the match.

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