The Holland international scored on Monday and Ali told arsenal.com: "It's been great having him and the lads gave him a round of applause in our pre-match meeting. It's never easy to be a professional footballer and suffer the injury that he had and miss a lot of football.
He's come into a new country and it's been difficult for him but since his return, he's been excellent. Whether that's been training with the first team or training with us, he's been a real good role model for the younger players and his performance showed that this evening.
He scored a very good goal showing tremendous ability to execute that finish. His decision-making and his whole performance for 45 minutes was very strong and the players will learn a lot through watching him."