Arsene Wenger has hailed debut goalscorer Sami Nasri and
compared him to former Arsenal winger Robert Pires.
The goal output of Pires is still missed at Emirates Stadium but
Nasri was quickly off the mark with his fourth minute winner
against West Brom in the season opener on Saturday.
Wenger has already allowed himself to mention the former
Marseille man in the same breath as Marc Overmars and Pires and is
convinced he will have a similar impact in North London.
"He had a bad last season at Marseille because he had meningitis
and spent two weeks in hospital," declared the Gunners boss.
"The year before, everyone wanted him, but sometimes you have to
be brave enough when everyone else says he is not good.
"He had made an impression that I kept with me. I had seen
things in him and I had to go with my beliefs.
"Marc Overmars was in a similar situation before he came to
Arsenal and, hopefully, Nasri can have the same impact here.
"There is a bit of Robert Pires in him as he is able to change
direction very easily.
"He is smaller than Pires but gets stuck in more, which is not
difficult as Robert's strength was never his tackling, it was the
intelligence of his game."