Arsenal fans are all saying the same thing about Mikel Arteta after what Mikel Merino just did

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Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino scored a hat-trick for Spain on Sunday night against Turkey in a World Cup qualifier.

The former Real Sociedad man netted three superb goals in Konya, as the European Champions cruised to a 6-0 win.

Beautifully sweeping in his first after an excellent team move from Spain, he then added his second on the stroke of half-time, arriving in the right place at the right time to tuck home from Pedri’s cut-back.

Merino then completed his hat-trick with a stunning long-range effort in the second half, capping off what was a superb all-round display from the Gunners star.

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Arsenal fans react to Mikel Merino’s hat-trick

Mikel Arteta was criticised for being too conservative against Liverpool at Anfield last week.

This critique largely stemmed from his decision to select Merino in midfield, who was publicly perceived to be a defensive option.

Merino scored for Spain last week against Bulgaria, and followed that strike up with three goals against Turkey on Sunday.

These strikes have prompted the Gunners fanbase to essentially argue that Arteta’s decision to select the 29-year-old on Merseyside was validated, and wasn’t actually an overly cautious decision.

One fan replied to a post on X that was reporting Merino’s hat-trick, by writing: “Remember though playing Merino was totally negative and meant Arsenal deserved to lose.”

Another added: “Look Spain, you might be winning 6-0 via a Merino hat-trick, but him starting tells you straight away about your manager’s mindset.”

One supporter wrote: “Mikel Merino ‘defensive midfielder’ scores again.”

Another fan posited: “Merino scoring 4 goals in 2 games for Spain literally a week after everyone was calling him a DM is the funniest thing.”

Meanwhile, another fan took a more analytical approach, describing Merino as a ‘goal magnet:’ “The thing about Merino is that he already had the timing, ghosting, height, span/reach to rack up those wily fox kinda goals in the box: headers, pokes, arrivals. But when you start to add his first time sweeps or a few longer-range hits, he’s a borderline goal magnet.”

Mikel Merino’s statistics vs Turkey

Merino was simply outstanding against Turkey.

Allowing Pedri and Martin Zubimendi to focus on build-up, the ex-Newcastle man liberated himself to get into dangerous positions inside the box and in the final third in general.

Managing four shots and accumulating 0.55 expected goals, he was evidently excellent at timing his runs into the box.

However, he was still impressive in possession, completing five passes into the final third, 86% of his passes and creating two chances.

Arteta will have been delighted to have watched Merino’s display in Turkey, and will no doubt be feeling vindicated with his Anfield team selection.