by Nia Griffiths

After impressing Arsene Wenger during the Barclays Asia Trophy in Singapore, Alex Iwobi is likely to feature in the Emirates cup on the 25th and 26th of July.

The winger played for 72 minutes against Singapore Select XI and the boss certainly thinks he’s capable of slotting into the team and putting in a good performance at the Emirates Cup, in which Arsenal face Ligue 1’s Lyon on Saturday. The other teams in the friendly competition are Wolfsburg and Villarreal.

Speaking about 19-year-old’s chances of featuring in one of our matches, the boss said, “The first name that comes to mind [to play] is certainly Chuba Akpom because he has done well on tour. Maybe two or three more will feature, certainly Alex Iwobi will be very close to making the team for these games as well.”

He continued to praise the youngster, saying, “I like [Iwobi’s] team attitude, his movement. We have a game based on movement and speed, and he integrates that very well.”

Wenger added, “He has good power and is usually efficient – he scores goals a lot – and he had two good chances against Singapore. He missed them but usually he is capable of scoring.”

Although Iwobi hasn’t had a chance to shine in the first team yet, he’s appeared for the u21s 29 times and the u19s 11 times. Considering he’s only 19, I don’t think anyone needs to stress about him breaking into the first team, especially when we have enough wingers. However, it’ll be interesting to see if he can progress and get some playing time at the Emirates. This could be an excellent opportunity.