Folarin Balogun's elder brother, Royce Balogun has revealed that the Arsenal striker was visibly angry after his English Premier League debut on the opening night of the season against Brentford.

In truth, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta had no choice but to hand a start to the untested but talented striker after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette tested positive for coronavirus.

Folarin, just like his teammates, struggled against the Bees, suffering a shock 2-0 loss to the Premier League new boys.

Despite dominating possession, a very young Arsenal side showed lack of leadership and experience as they were bullied by the Brentford players.

Speaking to What The Footie Pod, Episode 44, Royce Balogun said :"He messaged us during the day, I didn't think it sank in until I saw Sky Sports, I really couldn't believe it.

"It was his time, it was really deserved, at the end of the day it wasn't by luck,  it wasn't by chance, okay you can say there were injuries but he fully deserved that chance.

"For me it was a good game for him because it was a baptism of fire. He needed to see that it's the pinnacle, there's nothing better. Him going through that it really showed that it's just the beginning.

"To see him actually on the pitch I was really proud of him."

He added : "After the game what was really encouraging to see is he was angry and it wasn't a thing of panicking.

"He was angry but it's like we go again, we go into the training ground and we keep on going."

Balogun has not figured for Arsenal in their last two Premier League matches and picked up some valuable game time in a Premier League 2 clash against Manchester United last weekend.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel