Mikel Arteta believes Kieran Tierney could go on to become Arsenal captain, with the former Celtic full-back having been in superb form lately.
Tierney has played in all but one of Arsenal's 17 league matches this season and opened his account for the campaign with a wonderful goal against West Brom on Saturday.
The 23-year-old cut inside from the left flank and curled a brilliant finish beyond Sam Johnstone to open the scoring, before then going on to tee up Alexandre Lacazette's second goal in a 4-0 rout of Sam Allardyce's woeful Baggies.
It was a third successive victory for Arsenal, who have turned their fortunes around after a seven-game winless streak in the top flight.
Since the start of December, no defender in the league has created more chances than Tierney (15), while Andy Robertson (29), Aaron Cresswell (25), Trent Alexander-Arnold (23) and Joao Cancelo (22) are the only defenders to have crafted more opportunities than the Scotland international's tally of 21 this term.
Tierney had experience of captaining Celtic prior to his move to Arsenal in 2019, and Arteta has seen plenty of leadership qualities in the left-back.
"I think he can be," Arteta told a news conference when asked if Tierney could go on to captain the Gunners.
"He has the respect and admiration of every member of the staff and every player. It's just the way he is, he does it in a natural way. He's a really shy boy as well but I think he represents all of the values we want to install and that are in the DNA of this football club.
"In both [attack and defence] he can do really well. He can still improve but he's been really good in attack and really solid defensively, so it's the kind of contribution we need from the full-backs.
"He's shy, so humble as well. He came here, it took him a while, he had a really bad injury and was away from home, but he's a natural leader.
"You see how he behaves on the pitch, and when he talks he says the right thing. It's exactly what we look for and I am so pleased to have him in the team."
While Tierney is starting to hit his stride in the Premier League, Arsenal have also been boosted by Lacazette's return to form.
After going almost three months without a league goal, Lacazette scored Arsenal's opener from the penalty spot in a 3-1 win over Chelsea on Boxing Day, before netting the winner against Brighton and Hove Albion and helping himself to a double at West Brom.
Lacazette is now on seven top-flight goals for 2020-21, with five coming away from home – his best such tally in the competition.
The former Lyon forward has netted half of the 12 big chances he has been presented with, which is a better conversion rate than the likes of Sadio Mane, Marcus Rashford and team-mate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Lacazette's contract is set to run out in 2022, and although Arteta has been delighted with the Frenchman's performances, any talks will be held off until the end of this season.
"We haven't talked about anything related to his contract," Arteta said.
"I'm delighted with the way he's performing, both that he's scoring and the form and energy that he's having at the moment, so he needs to keep doing that.
"We will talk in the summer and make a decision then."
Mat Sadler says Walsall showed what a ‘fantastic’ team they are at Notts County
Walsall boss Mat Sadler was thrilled with his team’s display after his side came from a goal down to win 2-1 at promotion hopefuls Notts County.
Oisin McEntee’s emphatic second-half brace cancelled out Aden Baldwin’s first goal of the campaign and ended the Saddlers’ six-game winless run.
Sadler said: “We are a good team, a very good team playing against what I also think is a very good team too with the way Luke (Williams) plays and the way he sets the team up. They take apart teams here, but we showed what a fantastic team we are and by team, I mean everybody together.
“The first half we go in 1-0 down but I said to the lads that I thought we controlled the game out of possession – the only thing missing in the first half was just that final piece of quality at times, but I knew we could hurt them as the game went on and the lads believed we could hurt them as the game went on.
“I gave the players a few minutes to speak to themselves, I always do. You get a vibe from what they are saying but, in the end, we got what we deserved.”
“The most important players in our game were going to be our two eights and outside centre-halves…and then Oisin (McEntee) pops up with the two goals which were thoroughly deserved. We know he has got goals in his game.”
As for the Magpies, another cold afternoon turned into an evening to forget as they fell to their third home league defeat of the season, and their fourth of the calendar year.
Williams said: “The conditions were not a problem, it was more the lack of energy. And we did not have the bravery to play with the ball in the second half.
“If we are not going to be great defensively, and we are then not going to outscore the opposition, I am not sure what we are going to do.
“The first half was really cagey, but we made a breakthrough. The second half, I did not even recognise the team.
“I want to win. It is no good to just be here when the team are winning every week. I need to be here and try to help them, try to remain focused on the job, so that we can try to come through on the other side of it.
“We are new to the division. We are learning the opposition and we have stuttered. We cannot seem to find a consistency so we need to find a decent level and be able to maintain that.”
Stephen Robinson pays tribute to Jonah Ayunga’s perseverance after injury battle
Stephen Robinson hailed Jonah Ayunga’s performance as St Mirren moved back into third place in the table with a 2-0 defeat of Ross County.
Ayunga’s goal was his first since a serious knee injury that kept him out for almost a year and gave Saints a two-goal cushion following Ryan Leak’s own goal.
Robinson praised the Englishman’s perseverance – and the club’s medical stuff – for ensuring his return to action was as smooth as possible.
The St Mirren manager said: “I’m delighted for Jonah.
“When you’re out injured it’s a lonely place, so a special mention for Jonah and (physio) Gerry Docherty and Gary McCall, the strength and conditioning coach, who have spent hours getting him to this level.
“It’s testament to how hard Jonah has worked and he’s got his just reward.”
Ayunga celebrated by sticking the ball under his jersey as a nod to his pregnant partner.
Robinson added: “I’m not sure how long (she has) to go. That will be a special moment.
“What you don’t appreciate when you’re out injured is how it affects your other half – they take the brunt of everything. They’re the real strong ones and I’m sure Jonah would agree.”
St Mirren could have scored more after missing several chances in the first half and late in the game, but Robinson was stoic about it.
He added: “I’m never happy to be honest as it should have been more. But to put on that level of performance when we haven’t won for a couple of weeks shows how tough mentally the squad are.
“We demanded we play our way and not get drawn into a long-ball game. That’s credit to the mentality of players.
“We could have won by more as we had plenty of chances, but we got what we deserved.”
His opposite number Derek Adams did not disagree with that assessment as he tasted defeat for the first time since returning as County manager.
He said: “The first goal was always going to be pivotal in this game. St Mirren got it, as quite rightly the VAR ruled it over the line.
“We didn’t play as well as we have done in previous weeks. Coming away from home, it’s a venue which Ross County haven’t done well at over the years.
“I was a bit disappointed in the way we didn’t take the game to them. When we were 2-0 down we were still trying to pass it, forgetting the object of the game is to score goals.
“That was a wee bit disappointing. But we didn’t play as well as we can do or have done. We didn’t deserve to win the game.”
Sack does not cross Stuart Kettlewell’s mind as Motherwell claim late point
Stuart Kettlewell insisted the thought of the sack did not cross his mind despite Motherwell requiring a last-gasp equaliser to claim a 1-1 cinch Premiership draw at home to St Johnstone.
The Steelmen looked set for another damaging defeat after Bevis Mugabi turned the ball into his own net following a goalkeeping error from Liam Kelly, though they would salvage a point when Mika Beireth brilliantly headed home in stoppage time.
Motherwell are now 13 games without a league win, a run that has seen them drop to 10th in the table – with only goal difference separating them and St Johnstone.
“I don’t think about it if I’m being honest, it’s not something that goes through my mind,” Kettlewell said.
“I probably just felt that we at least got our just rewards for what the game was and everything that happened in the game.
“When the emotion is the way it is and the run that you are on just now, it certainly doesn’t stop the fact it makes our group feel a lot better and the environment inside this stadium becomes better.
“It’s not what we wanted We didn’t want to come and just pick up a point, we were avidly going for three – but I just felt our confidence takes another dip when we concede that silly goal.”
Having levelled in injury time, Well have now struck late over the last three Saturdays to earn a dramatic point.
Kettlewell feels it is a good demonstration of the fighting qualities within his squad and that they are continuing to fight to address the slump that has seen them fail to record a victory since September.
“Everybody is always looking for a story to write and that somebody’s body language wasn’t right, somebody wasn’t running in the game, or you see someone being petulant in among such a bad run that we find ourselves on,” he added.
“I would challenge anybody to tell me that they have seen that today and again that is probably epitomised by that injury-time goal – we are trying exceptionally hard to get results and turn it around.
“I believe they’ve got my back and I sure as heck know I’ve got theirs as well. I think more often than not, that’s the formula to get you out of a sticky patch.”
Craig Levein admitted he thought his St Johnstone team had done enough to record a priceless victory at Fir Park.
The former Hearts boss has made an excellent start to life at Saints, picking up 11 points from six matches, though they slipped into the relegation play-off spot after Saturday’s draw.
“Stuart’s team have done quite well late on in matches and we had spoken about that,” Levein said.
“I thought we had defended really well the whole game and for once I was sitting there relatively confident we could see it out – little do I know.
“I don’t know yet (if it was a good point), I’ll wake up during the night and think about that.”
Levein felt that failing to capitalise on a strong spell following their opener eventually proved to be costly for Saints.
Chris Kane missed a glorious chance and Graham Carey’s free-kick cannoned off the crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten.
“We played well in that period of the game and then Graham has hit a brilliant free-kick, an inch or two lower and that’s in as well,” he added.
“I think we needed to get to two but I’ve got to give credit to Motherwell for knuckling down and getting themselves back into the game.”
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