Mikel Arteta hailed two-goal Eddie Nketiah before insisting Arsenal are not scared of another Manchester City showdown.
Gunners striker Nketiah bagged a double to overcome League One side Oxford and set up a fourth-round FA Cup tie at Premier League title rivals City. It makes it five goals in five starts for Nketiah as Arsenal chase silverware on two domestic fronts.
Arsenal boss Arteta, set to face former boss Pep Guardiola, said: “Eddie showed great composure, the timing of his runs as well. The decision-making shows his quality, his understanding is getting better and better. I’m really happy with him.
“It is what we want from every player. I am delighted. You have to be scoring goals and he is doing it. That’s the competition, the FA Cup, you have to play against the best to win it. But we go game by game. We next focus on Tottenham.”
Arsenal had to be patient before finally overcoming Oxford and Mohamed Elneny’s opener came soon after Arteta brought on Granit Xhaka and Oleksandr Zinchenko as the Gunners sent for the cavalry.
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Arteta added: “It’s always tough to win these type of matches. We change in the second half, got more control, found openings to win the game. Granit’s got that presence, subs are really important in this competition, they had the impact we are hoping for.”
Oxford boss Karl Robinson said: “From my point of view, the players did the club proud. We fought in all areas. They didn't look like a team so far apart to the other team.”
