Arsenal Coach Ljungberg Hails Nigeria-Eligible Goalkeeper After Crucial Saves Vs Chelsea U23

Published: April 16, 2019

Goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo made his third appearance for Arsenal U23s in their 3-1 win over Chelsea on Monday evening and manager Freddie Ljungberg was impressed with how he coped with the pressure at Stamford Bridge.

The young shot-stopper was superb yet again in between the sticks for Arsenal and was called into action as early as the 37th minute when he saved a Marc Guehi's long range effort.

With 73 minutes on the clock, Okonkwo made yet another great save to deny compatriot, Tariq Uwakwe from close range, thus keeping his team on the ascendancy.

Quizzed on Okonkwo's performance and handling pressure, U23 coach Freddie Ljungberg told Arsenal's official website: "We said at half-time that they'd come at us and we said we could change the system, go more offensive and put them on the back foot, but we thought we'll stay like this so that we can work on our shape and work on defending well as a unit.

"That isn't so easy because we knew they were going to come at us, but they did that really well. We still had a few chances and should have scored, so overall it was an amazing performance.''

In recent weeks, the 17-year-old has attended the senior team's training sessions and looks to be learning some tricks from the established duo of Bernd Leno and Petr Cech.

Arsenal are placed fourth in the standings of the Premier League 2 Division One table after 21 games and they take on Leicester City in their final game of the season on April 26.

Emmanuel Chinaza

Photo Credit : arsenal.com