Mikel Arteta praises Fabio Vieira ‘quality’ after Arsenal beat Oxford in FA Cup to book Man City clash

Vieira swung in a free-kick for Mohamed Elneny to score his first goal since May 2021 and give Arsenal the lead on the hour mark.

He then threaded a pass through for Eddie Nketiah to score the first of two goals.

Vieira has only played sparingly since joining from Porto last summer but took his chance to impress Arsenal manager Arteta.

“He has the quality,” Arteta told ITV Sport.

“He is a really creative player and has the capacity to decide games in the final third. The moment we got him into the right spaces he made the difference.

Former Arsenal and England player Karen Carney was full of praise for Vieira’s cross for the first goal, which gave Arsenal the lead on the hour mark.

“The delivery is phenomenal. Every defender is petrified of that. You’ve just got to get your head on that. It’s horrible because you the keeper can’t come out. You can practice that all day and it won’t get better than that. It’s perfection.”

Reflecting on the game, Arteta added: “They make it difficult, they compete really well and you have to be patient.

“We were patient and we found the right openings and the goals helped us to control the game better in the last 20 minutes.”

Arsenal have a tantalising run of fixtures coming up as they face Tottenham and Manchester United in their next two Premier League games and then meet Manchester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

They also face City for the first time in the league this season on February 15.

“We go game by game,” said Arteta.

“We have a big game against Spurs and we will prepare for that one first.”

Nketiah has started every game for Arsenal after the World Cup following an injury to fellow striker Gabriel Jesus.

He showed his quality with two well-taken goals to make sure of the win.

“We knew it would not be easy,” Nketiah told ITV.

“It is a tough ground, good crowd and a tough pitch to play on. We had to stay patient, we had to up the level as it wasn’t good enough from us in the first half and I think we did that in the second.

“Every player wants to play whatever the competition. I am grateful for the opportunities and I just want to keep working and keep helping the team.”