Arsenal captain Van Persie hails Oxlade-Chamberlain, Yennaris

Arsenal captain Robin van Persie says Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Nico Yennaris impressed him in defeat to Manchester United.

The Dutchman told Sunday’s Official Arsenal Matchday Programme that he showed some of the key qualities needed at the top level.

“Alex can be proud of giving a performance like that on his first Premier League start,” said Van Persie.

“He moved nicely, worked hard, did good things on the ball and protected it well, which is particularly important against big teams. He can look back at a good game of football and we were all really pleased for him.”

Yennaris entered the fray at half-time, impressing in the right-back position with a series of strong forward runs while also keeping the shackles on United winger Nani.

“I’ve seen him improve his game massively of late, even over the last couple of weeks,” revealed Van Persie.

“What I like about him is that he always looks forward when he has the ball. He’s a right back who wants to play and bring others into the game - there aren’t many full backs who always do that, but for me it makes a massive difference.

“On top of that, you could see that Nani became less dangerous in the second half and Nico played a big part in that. Like Alex, he can be proud of himself; to play like that in such a big game shows great promise.”