In terms of Iwobi, I will admit that you and many others see quality where I only see promise. My concerns are on a relative basis. If I look at Arsenal’s competitive strengths they include Sanchez/Giroud, Ozil, Cech and Bellerin. In the holding midfield and out on the wings (when Sanchez is not there), Arsenal are still at a competitive disadvantage. We have a host of candidates out wide including Ox, Walcott, Perez, Iwobi and very soon Welbeck. They are all good, but not one of them is a special player. I think it is fair to compare them to Hazard and a half-dozen other wide forwards in the top six teams, who are more impactful than these Arsenal players. The championship team will have a great striker and two fabulous wide forwards. In my opinion, we are not there yet.

I disagree on Iwobi and fail to see why you would want to compare him to Hazard (I agree he’s not at Hazard’s level but who said he was?).

Among our attacking midfielders, Iwobi is the best at winning 50/50 balls. He won several in a crowd against Palace not only securing possession but turning it into a break. He does that quite often. Yes, he misplaced some passes but he brought a high level of energy and some physicality to the middle of the pitch. He is constantly moving and contributes a lot to the fluidity in our attack. He moves the ball quickly. Iwobi is also very strong on the ball. In fact, dare I say that after Carzola, he is the best on the team at handling the ball in heavy traffic.

I agree with our remarks about Monreal. I also thought Xhaka had a better performance than his rating. I have been a critic of him, but while it was another easy non-pressing defense he faced, he did OK. I also saw more promise in Perez than did the writer.

However, I keep missing the quality that others see in Iwobi’s play. I think his ball handling, passing and finishing (notwithstanding his goal), don’t seem good enough to be worthy of a championship contending team. He is light years away from Hazard and his other equivalents (on the right side).

Also, I thought Xhaka deserved a 7. Had a few mental lapses in the second half with careless passes but generally got the ball forward and passed it well.