It definitely didn’t inspire confidence when Arsenal fans saw
After the 0-2 loss at home to Manchester City in the opening weekend of the 2018/2019 Premier League season, Iwobi wasn’t exactly the change Arsenal fans were expecting in their starting XI at Stamford Bridge.
But the Nigerian delivered one of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt to silence the doubters.
Starting on the left of Emery’s 4-2-3-1, Iwobi was quiet as Chelsea ran riot on Arsenal early in the first half.
He, however, remained Arsenal’s most dangerous player, causing Cesar Azpilicueta and the Chelsea defence lots of problems.
He did well to hold up play and set up Nacho Monreal whose cross Mesut Ozil couldn’t direct to goal.
In the 31st minute, he laid a pass to Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the Chelsea boss but the Arsenal No. 7 missed from close range.
Arsenal were now two goals down but they switched on the gear with Iwobi leading the charge.
In the 37th minute, Mkhitaryan equalised from an Iwobi assist. The 22-year-old drove into the Chelsea box and square played to his teammate who finished with his left foot making up for his earlier miss.
Four minutes later, he got on the scoresheet himself, getting past Azpilicueta to get on a cross from Mkhitaryan to bring Arsenal level.
In the 46th minute he did well to cross into the Chelsea box but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang-who was having a terrible evening-missed.
Iwobi himself missed somewhat of a sitter in the 45th minute, blazing over the bar from close range.
It was an insane 12 minutes of imperious performance from the Arsenal star who was unplayable towards the end of the first half.
Halftime came at a bad time for Arsenal who were on ascendancy spearheaded by Iwobi.
He couldn’t get on that level in the second half before he was taken off for Alexandre Lacazette.
There were lots of doubt about his future when Emery took over from Arsene Wenger but the new manager has come in and shown confidence in him with a new contract.
Iwobi in that first half showed why he is still at Arsenal despite the flurry of changes Emery has overseen in his short stint so far.
He was strong, fast, precise with his passing and complimented his performance with a goal. Arsenal fans and Emery would be hoping for more of that from him.