By William Schomberg
LONDON, – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta praised his emergency centre-forward Mikel Merino for clinching another three Premier League points for the north Londoners on Sunday when he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over city rivals Chelsea.
Merino – a midfielder by trade – showed the instincts of a seasoned striker when he glanced a header from Martin Odegaard up and over Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal, the ball dropping into the net at the far post.
“The way he’s approaching this is incredible,” Arteta told reporters. “He wants to understand everything. He wants to learn from it. He’s very critical of himself all the time. And at the end, the reality is that he wins matches for us.”
Merino scored twice in a 2-0 win over Leicester City in February when he came on as a substitute to lead Arsenal’s attack and he has been playing in that position ever since.
Asked about the 12-point gap between Arsenal and league leaders Liverpool, Arteta said the onus was on his side to win every game and see if they could rebuild their challenge for the title.
“We have to win our matches. Win against Fulham and we will be close,” he said, referring to the Gunners’ next league game on April 1, after the international break and an FA Cup weekend.
Just like Arsenal, Chelsea were missing several of their usual forward players, chief among them their top scorer this season, Cole Palmer, who picked up a muscle injury in training before the visit to the Emirates.
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said he did not think Palmer would be available for England who have two World Cup qualifying matches against Albania and Latvia over the next eight days, and he hoped the break would do him good.
“We don’t wish players injury but in Cole’s case, in this moment probably he could get some rest, physically and mentally, it could be good,” Maresca said. Emirates Stadium England Arsenal Chelsea
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