Arsenal: Mid-Season player rankings

17. Alex Iwobi

All that wonderful, majestic hype that Alex Iwobi buried himself in when he was (unjustly) given the starting role in 2015 looks and feels so far away now. Iwobi came into the 2016 season firing on all cylinders and quickly nabbed three assists, announcing himself as the next big deal.

And then it all went tragically wrong. Iwobi stalled, struggled, and succumbed to his inner Mesut Ozil. He just couldn’t seem to string any sort of form together.

It’s crazy, because you see his excellent strength, his underrated speed, and his predominant creativity and you just know that there is a magical footballer in the making, if only we can fit the pieces together.

This season hasn’t granted much more hope. He has had his positive performances interchanged with negative ones, with no real rhyme or reasons as to what changes one from the other. I would actually say that his best performance came in the devastating loss to Watford, and that’s just because he was so devoid of a supporting cast that he essentially had to buck up and do it all on his own.

Which he did, for the most part.

I long for the Nigerian’s return to that 2015 form. Maybe he will get more chances when the detrimental duo finally leaves.

(Andy: 16th; Josh: 17th)