'An accident' - Arteta defends Nigerian GK after error on unofficial debut for Arsenal

Published: July 14, 2021

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has defended Nigeria-eligible goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo after his mistake led to the opening goal netted by Hibernian in Tuesday's friendly at Easter Road.

More than ten years after he joined the club as a schoolboy, Okonkwo made his non-competitive debut for the Gunners, playing only the first half as the north London club were beaten 2-1 by their Scottish opponents.

In truth, the Anglo-Nigerian glovesman looked nervy in the opening minutes and almost gifted a goal to Hibernian in the tenth minute when he took his eye off the ball as he came to collect a delivery.

Hibernian took the lead in the 21st minute when Okonkwo failed to deal with a backpass from Cedric and Martin Boyle pounced on the error to open the scoring.

The Hale End Academy graduate grew in confidence as the game progressed and the highlight of his performance was undoubtedly when he palmed away a long-range effort from Hibernian striker Stephen Bradley in the 37th minute.

Speaking to Arsenal Media post-match Arteta said : "We've trained really hard and you could see that the players were a little bit leggy.

"I think we conceded the first goal, an accident, and the second goal was clearly offside".

Despite Arsenal dominating the game, Daniel Mackay put Hibernian 2-0 up in the 69th minute before Emile Smith Rowe halved the deficit with eight minutes left on the clock.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : hibernianfc.co.uk

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