Super Eagles Star Iwobi Hails Tough Arsenal Training Regime Under Emery

Nigeria international Alex Iwobi has acknowledged Unai Emery's training sessions as being more intense and aimed a sly dig  at the former manager Arsene Wenger who had been said to take a more lighter approach to his training and treatment of his players.

Wenger left as the Gunners boss in May after 22 years in charge and was replaced by former Sevilla and PSG coach who is known for his high-energy, pressing style of football.

Iwobi scored his first goal of the season and  his team's second in a 3-2 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday which was his third Premier League goal since January and has spoken of the working relationship under the Spaniard.

"It's exciting times to be fair," Iwobi told  Arsenal Player.

"Everybody's enjoying and buying into the new ideas. For me personally, I'm enjoying the new sessions, the new training methods and the new ideas, so I'm enjoying my time with him.

"He demands a lot. He's a lot more intense, a lot of high pressing and keeping the ball so that it benefits us if we have the ball. It's good for us, especially the attackers who like to have the ball a lot.

Iwobi admits that the new regime had had its positive effect on the quality of his game.

"It's making me feel a bit sharper, I'm doing things with a bit more intensity. It's not just for me, though, I feel like I'm helping the team a lot more. It's benefitting me a lot more.

"Whenever something in the system changes, you have to prove yourself again. But wherever you go, you have to prove that you're better than whoever else is on the team.

The Super Eagles then suggests that the new philosophy could take time to be implemented.

"At a team like Arsenal, that's always going to be hard so I always have to be on it in training and matches.

"I've got to be different. It's going to be hard because we've got so many attackers and so many world-class players, so I've just got to prove that I'm on that level or as good as them so that I can be ahead of them, which is my aim," Iwobi enthused.