Fabio Vieira marked his full Arsenal debut with a stunning strike against Brentford, which put his side 3-0 up in the second half of the match at the G-Tech Community Stadium.
The Portuguese playmaker has had a slow start to life in North London following a knock suffered on Portugal duty at the start of the summer, but announced his presence in resounding fashion in West London on Sunday. His place in the starting lineup came as a result of an injury to Martin Odegaard and the 22-year-old took his chance in convincing fashion.
The former Porto man was singled out by Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp prior to the match, with the former Liverpool captain saying that he would have to adjust very quickly to the pace of the Premier League. Vieira had only played 15 minutes so far in the league having come on in a defeat at Old Trafford two weeks ago.
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"This is a big game for Vieira, they’ve paid big money for him, big chance," Redknapp said on Sky Sports. "But not an easy game, they smother you in midfield, they press you, he's not going to have a minute on the ball, they’ll move the ball quickly.
"We’ve seen it so often – Man United had problems there – but he’s a talented player, it’s a tough one to go there, he’s got to adjust very quickly.”
The player was also praised by Arteta following the match, with the Gunners boss saying that the young star's commitment to the uglier aspects of the game impressed him as much as his adjustment to the pace of the league. He spoke at the press conference following the match.
"He is like this. He’s a creative player who needs to play with his gut feeling and his instinct," Arteta said. That’s what he needs to do and we need to create as much scenarios as possible for him to put his talent to the service of the team. But what I like as well is the way he competes. To come here (Brentford) and the way he went about the ugly part of the game, I was really impressed."
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