Arsenal: Arsene Wenger Has Serious Point About Alex Iwobi

Arsenal took care of business against Crystal Palace thanks in large part to Alex Iwobi, who Arsene Wenger has made a sound point about.

Arsenal‘s win over Crystal Palace was accentuated by the fact that Mesut Ozil was missing. They had to find their creative vein through other methods and Alexis Sanchez and Alex Iwobi were the two methods, and they did absolutely superbly.

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The two split ten chances created evenly and Iwobi even had himself a nice headed goal to seal the win.

I, among others, have been rather hard on the Nigerian youngster given how inconsistent he can be and while I have never doubted the lad’s potential, the current contributions can vary. Through it all, I may well have forgotten what Arsene Wenger was kind enough to remind us of.

“People forget he’s 20 years old. I think he had a very good game – on top of that, now he starts to score goals,” he said.

It shouldn’t be as shocking as it is, but really, Alex Iwobi is only 20 years old. Meaning that, not only is he on a terrific path to stardom, he is actually a long way off from the Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain comparisons I have kept dropping.

While it is crucial to avoid another Ox situation, where the potential just never fully irons out, we have to look at the difference already between the two. Iwobi does not have that injury vulnerability – at least not yet – and his goal and assist production has surpassed what the Ox was doing at this age.

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Granted, this is a much different team with much different mentors, it’s still noteworthy that Iwobi is indeed miles ahead of where the Ox was at this time. He Is a regular contributor to the offense when he is on and he has a unique skillset that, while it still needs definition, is a big piece of the offense.

He is a creator who isn’t afraid to pull the trigger on a shot (a developing story). He is like Mesut Ozil but bigger, stronger and more likely to spring. And that appears to be the end goal – the heir to the German maestro.

Which bodes ill for Gedion Zelalem, but it’s hard to argue with how talented and useful this 20 year old already is.

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Now the next question is how the Ox will adjust. The competition is fierce and Iwobi has laid down a serious marker, now it is the Ox’s turn to up the ante.