Mikel Arteta hailed Mikel Merino after he came off the bench and fired Arsenal to victory over Leicester.
Merino scored twice in the space of six minutes late on as the Gunners beat Leicester to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to four points.
The midfielder played as an emergency striker after coming off the bench with just over 20 minutes to go.
Arsenal were without the injured quartet of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz - and Arteta praised Merino for stepping up.
“I think the game started to suit him more because they started to defend much more deeper, and we had more momentum, more sequences, more set-pieces as well in that period. And we believed that he could impact the game,” said Arteta. “We were lucky that he did it.
“We’re going to have to share that and we know that. We’re going to have various contexts, sometimes we’re going to have to make a sub because a player is not performing or because the opposition is doing something else or because he’s got a yellow card or he’s fatigued.
“And that’s going to restrict what we can do, really, in terms of the personnel. But we have prepared for different scenarios. Then those scenarios have to work. Hopefully, they will work as good as Mikel worked today.
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Mikel Merino heads home a brilliant cross from Ethan Nwaneri 🎯
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“I put all the options but there were too many. The moment you start to draw options there are too many, and at the end, you have to have the picture in your head of what can work and what are the variables and the options and the synergies within the team.
“And then you have to feel it, and that’s a feeling on the pitch and seeing what has happened actually, what is the game demanding. We believe that it was him in that moment, and then to get it right he needs to deliver, which is the hardest thing in football.”
