Improving Iwobi must keep calm to win over Arsenal

Considering how few home-grown talents are thriving in the upper echelons of the Premier League, it remains curious that many Arsenal fans are unwilling to savour the rise of Alex Iwobi into one of Unai Emery’s primary attacking weapons.

Iwobi joined Arsenal when he was at primary school, rising through the ranks to become a mainstay of the first team and a regular for Nigeria. There has been no loan move down the divisions and no foray into the Bundesliga as, instead, he has taken a direct route few have been able to follow.

Rather than being heralded as “one of our own”, though, Iwobi is still to convince large chunks of the Arsenal support of his worth.

There were even some jeers from the away end when he was substituted in this stodgy victory over Huddersfield Town, when the 22-year-old had given Arsenal the lead with a back-post volley.

If Iwobi is wondering what more he needs to do to win over these observers, the first step is to answer the seemingly endless questions about his end product. He has been working with a data analyst this season (this is the first time in his career he has been given the opportunity to do so) to improve his decision-making in the final third, and the goal against Huddersfield will help in that regard. Fewest clean sheets away from home in the top four divisions this season:

Ipswich

Brentford, Brighton Doncaster Fulham Millwall Wigan Wycombe

There is no doubt that a return of four goals and four assists from 32 games from this campaign falls short of top-level attacking numbers but it is already an improvement on last season, when he scored three. What Emery wants from him now is more “calm” in the decisive moments. A missed chance in the second half, racing in on goal, showed his inconsistency.

With his manically short strides and bouncing hair, Iwobi can give the impression of being permanently in a hurry – one social-media user joked that he dribbles like he is five minutes late for a team meeting