Arsenal defender Rob Holding has admitted that it has always been hard facing Watford’s Troy Deeney. He has also delved on the changes the club has undergone since Unai Emery became the coach.
The Gunners managed to overcome Watford at the Emirates in an epic 2-0 win on Saturday and the centre-back has revealed the team was elated to keep a clean sheet something that has been elusive since season kick-off. Petr Cech had to be stretched off and Bernd Leno came and ensured a clean slate against the visitors.
“It’s always (hard) against Troy Deeney and we get on quite well. It was a really competitive and physical game and we knew that coming in, we just had to stand up to the battle and late on I think they tired and we managed to get a few passes together and score the goals.” Holding told the club website.
“Yeah, that’s how we got one last time out in the Premier League so it’s nice to get another and keep that run going, but we knew that with Bernd coming in that he’s got the quality. We saw it in the Europa League and the Carabao cup games that he’s good with his feet and players the style that we want to play.” the English star said concerning the clean sheet kept.
He also spoke of attitude change that has been evidenced since Emery took charge. They have recorded seven wins consecutively now although they started the season quite poorly.
“He said when he came in that he wanted to bring a winning mentality and I think you get that from wins and you go into each game confident. We’re physically fit and we know that we can go and get the result,” Holding, who partnered Mustafi in the absence of Sokratis, said
Holding progressed through the Bolton Wanderers youth system, making his senior debut in April 2015 while on loan at Bury. After one season in the Bolton first team, he signed for Premier League club Arsenal in July 2016. He has won the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield with the club. Holding has represented England at under-21 level and was part of the team that won the Toulon Tournament in 2016.
Holding signed for Premier League club Arsenal on 22 July 2016 for a fee of around £2 million. Following injuries to centre-backs Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista, he was called upon to make his Arsenal debut in the 2016–17 Premier League season opener on 14 August 2016 against Liverpool, which Arsenal lost 4–3 at home. In the final two months of the season, Holding became a regular member of Arsenal’s starting line-up, with the team winning all six of the matches he played in the Premier League. He played the full 90 minutes in Arsenal’s 2–1 victory over Chelsea on 27 May in the 2017 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
Holding played in the 2017 FA Community Shield on 6 August which Arsenal won 4–1 penalty shoot-out to Chelsea after a 1–1 extra-time draw. He scored his first Arsenal goal on 28 September 2017 with a close-range shot in their 4–2 away win over BATE Borisov in the UEFA Europa League. He signed a new long-term contract with the club on 1 May 2018.