Dani Ceballos enjoyed a good return to the Arsenal starting lineup against Newcastle United.
A loan signing from Real Madrid in the summer transfer window, the Spain international was a regular under former Gunners head coach Unai Emery during the opening months of the 2019/2020 season.
However, an injury sustained in the 1-1 draw against Vitoria at the beginning of November kept him out of action for over a month.
Upon returning to full training, Emery had been sacked and replaced by Mikel Arteta which meant every player in the squad was starting from scratch.
As a result, Ceballos has had to be patient for another opportunity. He was a late substitute in the FA Cup fourth round win over Bournemouth and then made his first Premier League start in 2020 against the Magpies.
And the 23-year-old was impressive in the second half.
So much so that he earned a standing ovation from the Arsenal supporters when he was replaced by Lucas Torriera with eight minutes of normal time remaining and the hosts 2-0 up.
It's not fans inside the stadium who were impressed by Ceballos' return to the starting lineup as many took to social media and heaped praise on the midfielder.
Take a look at what was said on Twitter...
Head coach Mikel Arteta too was impressed with Ceballos' outing.
"Depending how they are, how they train, how they perform," Arteta said in his post-match press conference when asked if he plans to use Ceballos and Mesut Ozil together from the start again.
"But I thought Dani was ideal for that game in that position today and the way he's been training, he completely deserves a chance and I'm so glad with his performance."
