'The best feeling' - Nacer on derby goal

Nacer Chadli scored his ninth goal for us in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at the Emirates – and quickly admiited there was no feeling like it.

The Belgian midfielder struck his fourth goal in five Premier League appearances this term to open the scoing 56 minutes into the first North London derby encounter of the season.

He would have loved it to be a famous winner but Arsenal hit back to level through Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on 74 minutes and put us under pressure in the latter stages of the game but our defence, marshalled by the central partnership of Younes Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen, made sure we came away with a point.

“It’s the best feeling you can get, to score in a derby like this to go 1-0 up,” beamed Nacer, talking to us pitchside.

“It was a great feeling. I’m really thankful to our fans, they were there for us and really pushed us today.

“I’m very pleased to score, we wanted the three points but Arsenal had chances and scored one. One point is not that bad.”

Nacer was all the more delighted after missing a chance at the end of the first half - he was sent clear into the box but failed to connect properly with his left foot.

He certainly made amends though! “I had to shoot with my left foot in the first half and it’s not my best foot!” he added.

“I didn’t get too many chances, didn’t touch the ball a lot but for a forward player, you might get one chance and you have to be focused.

“We recovered the ball, Erik was in a central position, I made space and asked for the ball, he played it onto my right foot and I controlled and shot in the far corner.

“As I said, it was a great feeling.”

Below: A graphic of Nacer's goal - more stats, reaction, report, photos, Social Hub on our Match Centre...