Martin Keown has tipped Joe Willock to make his case to start for Arsenal alongside summer signing Thomas Partey.
Willock impressed on Thursday night, scoring and assisting for the Gunners as they continued their perfect record in this season's Europa League group stage, defeating Dundalk 3-0 at home.
The 21-year-old has featured in both Europa League games but he is yet to make an appearance in the Premier League, something that might change on the back of his performance on Thursday night.
And Gunners legend Keown hopes it does, keen to see Willock given more time and tipping the youngster to put in a challenge to become Partey's midfield partner.
“When I watched him last season, certainly late in the season, he was coming on late in games and he wasn’t really sure of where to be on the pitch," Keown said on BT Sport.
"Arteta, I know is a great tactician, but I wanna see more given to him, 'I wanna work with Willock and see what we can really get with him'. He needs to know when to release the ball, when to run with the ball and make the right decisions.
"That was an improvement today, but when Arsenal are out of possession, where is he gonna be? He needs to learn that. He’s used to playing with a three when Arsenal play with a deep-lying midfielder, it’s gonna be a two now - it’s up for grabs.
"Partey’s gonna play in that team, who’s gonna play with him? Elneny’s come back off loan, he’s done well, but Willock will feel he should be playing there.”
Willock has racked up 33 first-team league appearances since his debut in 2017 but all his outings so far this season have come incup competitions, the England under-21 international making five appearances across the Europa League, EFL Cup and Community Shield.
