Mikel Arteta says he absolutely loves watching ‘physical’ 23-year-old Arsenal player

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta heaps praise on one Arsenal player after watching him play against Luton Town last night.

The Gunners made plenty of changes when Rob Edwards‘ side came to the Emirates yesterday. They struggled for rhythm at times, but they picked up a comfortable win in the end.

Martin Odegaard scored a wonderful goal early on before Emile Smith Rowe‘s cross deflected into the back of the net. That went down as a Daiki Hashioka own goal.

Arteta was a happy man after the game, and one player, in particular, seems to have really impressed him.

Mikel Arteta says he loves watching one Arsenal player play

After the draw against Manchester City last weekend, Arsenal had to win to keep up with Liverpool at the top end of the table.

The Gunners were the favourites going into the game last night, but Luton Town have caused problems to almost every team they have faced this season.

They came to the Emirates with a fantastic record of scoring in 18 consecutive games, so Mikel Arteta‘s side, despite all the changes, had to step up.

Thankfully for the Gunners, they got the job done, and Emile Smith Rowe was the star of the show.

The 23-year-old, who only started his second Premier League game of the season last night, was involved in both goals and was rightly named the Man of the Match.

After the game, Arteta was asked about Smith Rowe, and the Arsenal boss admitted he really loves watching him in action.

He said, as per Arsenal.com: “I think (this game will improve him) a lot. I love him as a player.

“It’s a joy to watch him, how he moves, how he changes direction, how physical he was today as well without the ball. He won a lot of duels and he was thinking with that killer instinct to play forward and to make things happen and when Emile is in that moment it’s very difficult to stop him.

“Today, he helped us a lot to win the game.”

Mikel Arteta has a big dilemma about Emile Smith Rowe now

Emile Smith Rowe has been nowhere near the Arsenal starting eleven this season.

The Englishman missed large parts of last campaign due to an injury, and he has had fitness issues on a couple of occasions this season as well.

That has limited him to less than 450 minutes of football in all competitions, which is why he has been heavily linked with a move away from Arsenal.

Selling Smith Rowe makes financial sense for Arsenal as he would give them 100 per cent profit. That would give them a big boost with FFP.

However, Smith Rowe showed last night that he is still capable of producing the goods, and Arteta’s comments clearly tell us he’s a big fan of him.

The Arsenal boss now has to make a decision on Smith Rowe’s future. We won’t be surprised if he keeps hold of him this summer.