Pablo Mari has hailed the influence of David Luiz after making a strong start to his abruptly postponed Arsenal career.
Having joined on loan from Flamengo in late January, Mari made his debut for the Gunners earlier this month in the FA Cup fifth round, keeping a clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Portsmouth. He followed that up with another solid display as Arsenal beat West Ham United 1-0 in the Premier League.
On both occasions the Spaniard was partnering veteran centre-back Luiz in the heart of the Arsenal defence, the pairing provided Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta with ball-playing qualities and a balance that comes from Mari being left-footed and his team-mate being right.
"We know that David is an unbelievable player," Mari said.
"He's had a good career and is a good football player, and also playing with him is so easy. These two games with him in the starting XI were nice because I only focused on my job and I didn't need to focus on other jobs.
"This is easy when you want to have a big game. We know he's an experienced player and sometimes when you need to do different things in the last minutes, like when you need to make calls or something like this, he can do it. For us, it's easy to play with him."
Arteta had taken his time before throwing Mari in at the deep end, with the Spaniard arriving at Arsenal with a minor injury and short of match fitness after the end of the Brazilian season.
For Mari, whose previous spell in English football had seen him spend three years at Manchester City without so much as making a first-team appearance. Indeed he did not even meet his soon-to-be manager Arteta, then Pep Guardiola's assistant at City.
"For me, it was an unbelievable day," Mari said of his Emirates Stadium debut.
"It was a nice night for everybody and we won the game, which is the most important thing. Also my feeling on the pitch was really nice.
"With our fans, with our team, in our home, I think I had everything there to enjoy it. I enjoyed that game a lot and I hope I'm going to play the next games to feel the same with our team-mates and also for the club."
