Wenger singles out Arsenal new boy for lavish praise

 

Arsene Wenger hailed new Arsenal signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan as a ‘special character’ after his impressive home debut in Saturday’s 5-1 thumping over Everton.

 

Mkhitaryan left Manchester United to join Arsenal in a straight swap deal with Alexis Sanchez at the end of last month after dropping down the pecking order at Old Trafford.

 

The Armenia international was given a full debut against Everton after making his Arsenal bow off the bench in a 2-1 defeat to Swansea last week and the 29-year-old registered a hat-trick of assists against the Toffees.

 

Wenger singled Mkhitaryan out for special praise after the emphatic victory at the Emirates and hailed the former Borussia Dortmund creator a special character.

 

“I met Mkhitaryan before, before he came here, because I always liked his game,” Wenger told Sky Sports.

 

“He’s a player completely focused on football, dedicated totally to the game. He comes from a country where you need special character to become a great football player, so you have to really love it, and that’s why he looks happy to play football, because he just loves it.”

 

 

Mkhitaryan became the first Premier League player this season to register a hat-trick of assists and the first to do so all from open play since January 2017 (Michail Antonio vs Crystal Palace).

 

Despite failing to register a single league assist in the months of September, October, November, December and January, only Kevin De Bruyne (11), Leroy Sane (10) and Paul Pogba (9) have registered more Premier League assists than Mkhitaryan this season (8).