Nabil learning from experience

Nabil Bentaleb admitted the result tarnished his full debut at Arsenal at the weekend – but the teenager remains confident he’ll continue to flourish under a Head Coach who played in his position.

The 19-year-old was given his first start in central midfield by Tim Sherwood in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in the FA Cup, having impressed in each of his three substitute appearances in the Premier League recently.

And while sharing the disappointment of his playing colleagues at the final whistle, the youngster’s hunger to establish himself among the first team squad was still plain to see.

“I could feel better, to be fair, because obviously we’re not going through to the next round,” he said after the game at the Emirates.

“But it’s been a very good experience and I have to learn from it. I just have to take on what the coach says to me and continue to work hard and be ready.

“We lost the game from little mistakes – that’s what cost us. We know we can beat the big teams. We just have to keep working hard in training and we’ll get the results we all want.”