Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger was full of praise for midfielder Abou Diaby despite not enjoying the best of matches against Newcastle, especially in the first half. The Frenchman compared the tall youngster to former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira.

He said:

There are similarities. They are the same stature and the same size and have the similar style. Also Patrick is from Senegal and Abou is from Ivory Coast. But there is a lot of room for him to get where Patrick was. He is only 22 years-old and Patrick is a good role model for him.

In the first half I was not always happy with his performance. There was not a lot wrong but our positioning in the middle was not right some of the time. We were on the back foot and did not protect our defence.

But in the second half he did well. Abou has power coming through the middle of the park and he showed that on the goal. That is interesting for me. I feel there are similarities with Vieira and I feel he is growing at the moment.