Arsenal have definitely not been so good defensively since both Tomiyasu and Tierney were both missing from the starting line-up. Although Cedric adequately covered for Tomi, the sight of Nuno Tavares starting a game is usually enough for some Gooners to break into a sweat.
But now we have the good news that Tomi is back to fitness. A cameo performance against Man United, and a full week’s training behind him has made us hopeful that he should be able to finally get his third game of 2022 behind him.
Tomi’s versatlity is well-known and, let’s all admit it, most of us would much prefer to see Tomi return in place of Tavares rather than Cedric! So this thinking must be the reason why Arteta was asked about how strong Tomi was with his left foot. The boss told Arsenal.com: “Well, when we follow the player and we identify him as one of the candidates, obviously it one of the things that I came across and it gives you a lot of solutions. Not only because he can use both feet, but he can play right centre-back, left centre-back, he can play left-back so that gives you enormous variability and it’s the way they’ve been raised and coached since a really young age, that’s what he says, so for him, left and right is the same.”
Well that is great news as far as I’m concerned, so now I am praying that Arteta is prepared to use the Japanese international in place of Tavares tomorrow.
What do you think?