Billy Gilmour may have taken a lot of plaudits for his performance last night, but there was one man out there even more relieved to play well.
After 6 games on the bench Kepa Arrizabalaga was restored to the starting lineup, and he made the most of it with a strong showing that included one really impressive triple save to get the crowd on its feet.
By the time the final whistle blew, the former Athletic Bilbao man had kept an important clean sheet, and his teammate Olivier Giroud was noticed bounding up to him to have a word.
Asked by the Athletic after the game what he’d said to the 25 year old, Giroud admitted it was just some simple encouragement:
“I just told him I was happy for him,” Giroud said.
“He deserved to be man of the match because he saved us a few times. There is a fair competition between him and Willy. They are both training very hard,” the France striker went on.
As he said, they are both in a similar place having been restored to the team after a long spell out. As it stands, they’re both doing well enough to keep their places.
We love to see the more experienced players helping out the youngsters like this – long may it continue!