Arsenal’s 21-year-old defender, Rob Holding, has revealed that his team were keeping tabs on Paris Saint-Germain's score during halftime. Arsene Wenger’s men knew that they had to better the French side’s result against Ludogorets in their finals Champions League group game. To everyone’s surprise, the Bulgarian champions held Unai Emery’s men to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday.
The Ligue 1 Champions were expected to steamroll Georgi Dermendzhiev’s Bulgarian team to top Group D, but Unai Emery’s side threw away their chance to finish top of the group. Arsenal, on the other hand, beat Swiss club, FC Basel 4-1 to take their place as Group D winners.
Thanks to the Bulgarian side’s efforts, Arsenal will now have a favourable draw in the last-16 of the Champions League. Arsenal’s young defender Rob Holding spoke about what his team did heading back to the dressing room during half-time.
"We saw the scores as we were coming in so we knew that, if we kept doing our job, the rest would take care of itself," Holding said. "It turns out it has done so it’s a great night for us."
"We dropped off a bit which is why we conceded, but we still completed the job.” the 21-year-old added.
Also read: Bayern Munich troll Arsenal ahead of the Champions League draw
The Tameside-born English defender made his Champions League debut for the Gunners as Arsene Wenger decided to rest his regular starter Shkodran Mustafi. Ever since Holding’s arrival at the Emirates, the former Bolton Wanderers player has not had many opportunities to play for the London club. However, he has held his head high and trained hard in order to be prepared for his call-up.
"We’ve got a great squad here with options in every position and all the players who stepped in produced a good performance. All we can do is our best each time we’re picked and I think we’ve done that," Holding stated.
Arsenal are having a great season so far in the Premier League, as Arsene Wenger’s team are placed 2nd in the League table just three points behind table toppers, Chelsea FC.
Although the London club failed to register wins against rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, the Gunners are yet to be beaten in the Premier League since their opening day defeat at the hands of Liverpool. Arsenal will be hosting Stoke City at the Emirates in the Premier League on Saturday.
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