Arsenal: 4 massive selection decisions vs Everton

3. Time for Kieran Tierney’s Return in the Side?

At this moment in time, the senior players at Arsenal are dragging the rest of the side down. Meant to be guiding the youth along, instead they’re being propped up by players many years their junior.

Nuno Tavares was not one of the worst performers at Old Trafford. He was one of a few trying to initiate attacks in the team when the whole unit sat back and invited pressure, even if his deliveries when into the final third were lacking and he struggled to penetrate United’s defence.

However, with other senior members of the squad faltering, the time feels right to return Kieran Tierney to the starting lineup to inject some experience into the team. Even for the on-field guidance and leadership, there needs to be someone marshalling the players.

Arteta has long trusted Tierney to be his voice on the pitch. When Xhaka isn’t around he takes over those reins, and seeing the way the team lose their control and confidence in positive game states might call for someone of the Scot’s ilk to just generally get stuck into his teammates.

With the games coming thick and fast players will have to get minutes in them to maintain freshness throughout, and after an physically demanding game at Old Trafford there has to be rotation anyway.

It’s a call that you’d expect Arteta to make, even if Nuno has still yet to do anything especially wrong.

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