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Former Gunner, Samir Nasri will feature against Arsenal | West Ham vs Arsenal

By Utsav Mehta

Posted on January 9, 2019

Samir Nasri played for Arsenal from 2008-2011 before moving to Manchester City and now playing for West Ham.

The player had been out for 13 months owing to a doping ban on November 2017 and did not feature in professional football for that period, making his debut for West Ham in FA Cup’s 2-0 victory over Birmingham.

An unpredictable midfielder, Nasri made glory in Arsenal, playing 81 games for the club and scoring 18 goals. The imagination and understanding of French international makes him an interesting prospect. Arsenal will have to be aware of the abilities he possesses which have already drawn him to praises calling him similar to Zinedine Zidane.

I think there were a lot of things to take from the game and one of them was Samir Nasri’s play after a long time without playing an official game.

Although, the playmaker was absent for more than a year and made his first appearance in the FA Cup game, he was the most impressive one to have played. It didn’t look like he was not playing for a year. The player played only 30 minutes and impressed his coach Manuel Pellegrini that made him to start Nasri against Arsenal.

WATCH: SAMIR NASRI IMPRESSIVE DEBUT AGAINST BIRMINGHAM

Pellegrini said: “ I was very happy with the way he played. He is a player who gives you time with the ball and has good technique and the ball is always around him.

I was never worried about Samir because I saw him working for so many days in December so I was sure he was able to play.

“He will now be considered in different games and the next one is Arsenal.

“We don’t know if he will start or be on the bench but now he has demonstrated that he is back and he will continue to improve his performances as he plays more games.”

Arsenal now face West Ham United on January 12 in their next Premier League outing.