Arteta hints that Holding and Tierney will start tonight, but doubts that Jesus can play 90 minutes

Admin Pat

3 years ago

Arsenal are ready to come out of the blocks this evening firing on all cylinders, but we have got an injury list that doesn’t seem to decrease in size. Luckily Mikel Arteta has great faith in the players we have as backups are fitting seamlessly into the starting line-up.

With William Saliba out for the long term and Oleks Zinchenko also out for tonight’s game against Southampton, it looks like Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney will be stepping up to the defensive plate once again.

This is Arteta said about the pair in his pre-match conference: “Their contribution is huge. First of all the way they behave around the team, how patient they have been, and when they have to play what they have produced in terms of performances.

“Now, they are playing more games, they are playing more minutes and will continue to do so. This is why you need top-quality players with the right mentality to be ready when you need them – on the pitch, and when you are not using them that much on the pitch, to contribute to the team in the right way. Those two are great examples of that.”

So Arteta has no worries on that score, but the boss has also indicated that there are good reasons for not playing Gabriel Jesus in every single game yet, or at least not for the full 90 minutes. This is what Arteta said about the Brazilian: “We’ll see. We’ve been really careful. There have been some issues within that period when he was doing the final stages of the rehab and we have to be really attentive.

“We have players that can change the game, that are fully fit, that deserve to play as well and we have to be mindful of that.”

I wonder if that’s hint that it may be time to play Trossard from the start for a change. If Arteta can’t rest Jesus against the bottom club in the Premier League, when can he?

Darren N

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