Kevin Campbell has faulted Mikel Arteta’s decision to field Granit Xhaka as a left-back in Arsenal’s 2-1 loss to Brighton in their last match.
The Gunners needed a change of personnel in that position after Nuno Tavares had laboured in there on his last appearance for the club, while Kieran Tierney is injured.
Arteta used Xhaka in that position even though he was missing Thomas Partey. That decision meant the Gunners didn’t have any of their best holding midfielders in position for the fixture.
It showed as Brighton ended their poor run of form by beating the Gunners at the Emirates.
It was a bad result and helped Tottenham to move above the Gunners on the league table. Former Gunner, Campbell, insists the result is on the manager.
He tells Football Insider: “That one is on the manager.
“If Partey is not there you need Granit Xhaka on the pitch. Coming from me, that is saying something.
“Xhaka has been a constant in midfield along with Partey. So to take him out of there to play left-back weakens us. That is what the big issue is.
“The centre of the pitch is the engine room. Xhaka is not the best player but he can do a job in there. He is also experienced so he could help Sambi Lokonga. Sambi looked like he was on his own in there. It was not right.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
One of the hardest jobs in the world now is to manage Arsenal with some of our key players missing and their backups doing badly.
Arteta had no choice but to tinker with his squad even though it didn’t work out as we wanted.
Unless Tavares can do well, Xhaka might still be fielded in that position until the end of this season.