Arsenal kept up the pressure on Premier League leaders Liverpool with a 2-0 win at Leicester City in Saturday’s early kick-off.
Arsenal’s victory came about thanks to an unlikely hero, with Mikel Merino enjoying arguably the greatest positional debut in recent history.
Merino came on in the second half as a centre-forward, having never played up front before and with the score at 0-0, and went on to score a brace.
The Spaniard came on in the 69th minute and, 12 minutes later, was on the scoresheet with a clinical header from Ethan Nwaneri’s cross.
Then, in the 87th minute, Leandro Trossard delivered a great ball across the face of goal that Merino expertly poked home to put Arsenal out of reach.
Mikel Arteta only told Merino he’d be playing up front for Arsenal on the morning of the game, the player confirmed after the match.
Arteta then spoke to reporters and revealed exactly what he had said to Merino on the subject of his ad-hoc switch to centre-forward.
Mikel Arteta said he told Mikel Merino that ‘he was going to score’
