Matthew Upson believes that Mikel Arteta may have singled out Dani Ceballos for special treatment.
Former Arsenal defender Matthew Upson reckons Mikel Arteta is using Dani Ceballos as his creative force in midfield after the midfielder impressed for Arsenal against West Ham.
The Spaniard has generally struggled as an Arsenal player since being brought in and having made a fine start under Unai Emery.
Injuries disrupted his progress under the former Arsenal manager and he struggled to get into the side under Mikel Arteta as well.
He has, however, played his way back into reckoning in the last few games for Arsenal and Arteta has expressed his delight at the player’s improvement.
Speaking about the game, the former Arsenal and West Ham star reckoned that Arteta may have given the Spaniard special dispensation to run the game for the Gunners from midfield.
“Dani Ceballos is probably the one Arsenal player on the pitch who is trying to inject some energy into the game”, Upson said as quoted in the Standard.
“Since Arteta has come in, it’s as if he has singled him out as a player and thought ‘I know I can get more from him, he is going to fit into my playing style’ and he really looks as if he is giving his all for the manager.”
Ceballos will be hoping to get more game time for the Gunners before the season ends as he targets a place in Spain’s Euro 2020 squad.