Player Watch : Alex Iwobi Set To Play Pivotal Roles For Arsenal And Nigeria

Arsenal's Alex Iwobi has increasingly played pivotal roles for the North London side of recent, allaying mundane fears of his team jettisoning him on the back of the Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang acquisitions, thus, placing him in good stead to reaffirm his efficiency in front of the Gunners faithfuls.

If their was any lack of trust as regards productivity on Iwobi's part as Arsenal contended with erratic results in January, such notions were swiftly put to bed as soon as the youngster wriggled free of Jonjoe Kenny to tee up Aaron Ramsey in the 5-1 trouncing of Everton in Arsenal's first win of this month.

That victory preceded losses to Bournemouth and Swansea City in the division after the Gunners had looked like getting their season back on track with a 4-1 walloping of Crystal Palace, a game in which the 21-year old scored his second goal of the season.

This explains to an extent, why we ought to applaud the Hale End product's resilience and mental strength — the club had somewhat under-performed during that period and following the moves of Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain' and latterly, Alexis Sanchez.

He was duly expected to lead his side in attack from there on alongside the mercurial Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette but things seem not to be going their way then, those flicks and tricks, the gut-bursting runs that has however kept him providing little vignettes of apparent quality notwithstanding.

That he is rated very highly by Arsene Wenger is not at least in doubt, and the Frenchman has always included him in the very grandest of stages since his breakout year in 2015-2016 season, his brilliance and eccentricity punctuated by woeful showings like in the FA Cup loss to Nottingham Forest or the draw at West Brom.

Inspite of all these waves he's had to ride, the inestimable talent remains and is even moreso, remarkable at this period of the campaign's final run in — Iwobi has played in each of Arsenal's last five and as Ostersunds come to town, only one thing would be at the back of his mind — to do deliver just as he has been duly indulged to.

As it is, his intelligence and reading of the game has always seemed to tip the scale in his favour as his adaptability and unique skill set does perfectly well to lend itself to any position across the front line in which he is deployed to play; be it a playmaking attacker or a marauding winger.

What we do quite know about the talented Nigerian who would be one of the county's shining lights in Russia's World Cup event in four months time is his veritable knack for rising to occasions and  and even the embodiment of near-perfection in this team-focused sport which is football.

Lest we become surprised (he's not just about goal creation as some think) if he shows his lethality against the Swedish opposition, it could make for a timely reminiscence that even Argentina has had to contend with his industry and deadliness on the international stage.

Emmanuel Chinaza