Noni Madueke has hit the ground running in north London, and has enjoyed some of his best games for the club so far against Bayern Munich and Brentford in recent weeks.
Having joined us from Chelsea in the summer, Noni has wasted no time in settling in, and has enjoyed his football so far, especially at Emirates Stadium.
“I love playing at Emirates [Stadium], it’s a really special feeling for me to play there,” he said heading into this weekend’s trip to Aston Villa. “I feel the connection between me and the fans and it’s just my job to continue to do the best I can to help the team achieve its goals and I’m sure that bond will grow.”
Between a knee injury and the depth of our squad, the England winger has had to wait patiently for his opportunities. But Noni has enjoyed the challenge of being part of a big squad, and feels that it will help us improve as a team.
“I think for Mikel it’s a selection headache!” he laughed. “But he probably wouldn’t have it another way, it’s great for him to have such a plethora of talent around him.
“For us, it’s fantastic. Competition for places, that’s exactly what you need when you want to be fighting on all four fronts, it’s great for keeping the standards high around the players on the training pitch.”
Challenging on all four fronts throughout the season is a difficult task, but Noni felt from his very first conversation with Mikel Arteta that our squad was capable of it.
“I think the first time I got on the phone with Mikel, it was a great conversation, me, my dad and him,” he revealed. “He just highlighted the plans that he had for the team, the plans that he had for me and a lot of the things he said really resonated with me.
“Of course I knew how good the team was and that they were in a position to really challenge for major honours, so that’s really what made the choice up for me.”
As soon as he joined the club, Noni felt the desire in the squad to challenge for those major honours, and that is proving itself with our performances this season.
We’re in pole position domestically and in the Champions League, and have progressed as far as we can in the Carabao Cup soon, and Noni feels that we can go all the way in one or more of those competitions to add some silverware to the cabinet this season.
“We believe that this can be our year,” he added. “Everyone’s got to take an extra step; physically, mentally, and in our performances on the training pitch and at the stadium. That’s our goal, to compete to win every single competition that we’re in. Carabao Cup, we’re in the quarter-finals, and we’re first in the Champions League and the Premier League.
“I feel like we have the ability that we can do it. I feel like you can’t achieve anything if you don’t believe it from before, and we definitely have that belief. We just need to continue, not even staying the same, but continue reaching new levels and continue pushing ourselves and I feel like we’re on the perfect trajectory right now.”
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