Arsenal: So why was Kieran Tierney playing again?

Kieran Tierney has heavily hinted that he will miss Saturday’s match against Leicester City. So why was the Arsenal full-back playing against Vitoria SC in a relatively meaningless Europa League match on Wednesday?

Arsenal’s unquestioned priority of the season is the Premier League. Namely, finishing inside the top four to secure qualification for next season’s Champions League.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Unai Emery out, again

This week, the Gunners face a huge test on their way to trying to reclaim a top-four spot. On Saturday evening, they travel to the King Power Stadium to face a vibrant, vivacious Leicester City, who have won five of their last six games, their only loss to Liverpool at Anfield in which they conceded a controversial 95th-minute penalty.

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In those six matches, they have scored 21 goals, kept three clean sheets, and beaten fellow top-four hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur. Should Leicester win on Saturday, which they are expected to do, they will move nine points clear of Arsenal. Suddenly, those Champions League goals are looking a little ambitious.

With all this in mind, why in the world did Unai Emery start left-back Kieran Tierney on Wednesday against Vitoria SC in a semi-meaningless Europa League group-stage match. Arsenal were already top of the group, shifted to a back three so could have easily incorporated Tierney’s deputy, Sead Kolasinac, and did not need to win the match.

And on Thursday, Tierney conceded that he felt tired towards the latter stages of the match as he continues his recovery from injury:

"“I feel comfortable. As I say at the end I was tiring, but I try and give 100 per cent. I don’t save myself for maybe the last 15 minutes. I have given my all and if I tire, I tire. Just near the end I was just a wee bit tiring, which is understandable from the load that I have done coming back and coming into Premier League games as well. It is hard.”"

Tierney has also already been omitted from Scotland’s squad for the upcoming international break. He was asked about the decision. His response made it quite clear that this was a selection to preserve his long-term fitness:

"“Of course you want to play for your national team, but you need to do what is best for your career long term. This my second game in kind of three, four days so near the end I was tiring. It is probably the right decision as now I am going into the international break knowing I am getting a rest and recovery, because since my operation the load has went up, up and up. To get a rest would be beneficial and hopefully for the next camp I’m ready.”"

That tells me that Tierney is not going to play against Leicester, arguably Arsenal’s most important game of the season to date. It could, in fact, be the game that determines Emery’s future. Given its significance, would you not want to have your best players available? And yet, Emery is tying his own hands by starting Tierney in an insignificant match just three days prior.

I cannot even begin to get my head around this decision. It is completely ludicrous. And yet, it is what Emery has done. By Saturday night, it might well have cost him his job.