By Korede James
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has spoken out about Chido Obi-Martin’s move from the Gunners to Manchester United, describing it as ‘very unfortunate’.
Fresh from their 7-1 thrashing of PSV in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, Arsenal travel to Old Trafford on Sunday with the hope of earning the three points to keep their faint English Premier League title hopes alive.
The Gunners are 13 points behind Liverpool in the table, although with a game in hand.
United have been poor in front of goal and the terrible form of centre-forwards Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee has given Obi-Martin a chance in the first-team.
The 17-year-old Obi-Martin, born in Denmark to Nigerian parents, was tipped to be the next big thing at the Emirates Stadium thanks to his scoring prowess in Arsenal’s academy but last summer he made the shock decision to leave for United.
After recently making his senior debut, the young striker will likely feature against his former club on Sunday.
Asked about Obi-Martin’s exit during his pre-match press conference on Friday, Arteta said: “I wasn’t too involved in that decision. When a player decides the best pathway is to leave there’s not much you can do.
“Very unfortunate because we want to keep our players from the academy and to be very successful with the first-team but in this case we were unable to do that.”
Arsenal have dominated recent league meetings with United, winning their last four contests.
United, however, edged out Arsenal on penalties in the FA Cup at the Emirates this season.
When asked about United’s ability to pull a result out of the bag when many have written them off, Arteta said: “There’s a history of that at the football club – the players they have, the club that they have.
“Watching the [Europa League] game last night against Real Sociedad, it became very clear that they’re very capable of putting a really strong performance in and beat you on the day. We know the difficulty of the match and that’s what we’re preparing for.”
While Arsenal are second, United have continued to struggle under Ruben Amorim since his appointment in November and are 14th.
