Mikel Arteta risks upsetting Tierney after dropping Southampton hint

Mikel Arteta previews Southampton clash

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta risks upsetting Kieran Tierney if he continues to leave him out of his Premier League side. Arteta has again dropped a hint that Takehiro Tomiyasu will start at left-back against Southampton on Sunday.

Arsenal signed Oleksandr Zinchenko in the summer to provide competition for Tierney. The Ukraine star has struggled with injury during his short Gunners career to date but has started whenever he’s been fit.

Tierney is over his own fitness concerns and has started all four Europa League group stage matches. However, he has begun just three of the 10 Premier League matches this term.

Zinchenko has been absent since the north London derby win over Tottenham on October 1. But Arteta has opted against picking Tierney in his absence and has instead gone for Tomiyasu.

The Japan star is strong with both feet but has played the majority of his time at Arsenal as a right-back. Tomiyasu first got the nod over Tierney for the visit of Liverpool as Arteta felt he was best placed to thwart Mohamed Salah.

The Spaniard was vindicated as Arsenal won the game 3-2 and Salah was relatively quiet. However, Tomiyasu then kept his place on Sunday against Leeds at Elland Road.

Arteta has dropped a hint that he will pick Tomiyasu again this weekend. The 23-year-old came off during the second half of Thursday’s Europa League win over PSV Eindhoven having played at right-back, while Tierney played the whole 90 minutes.

If Tierney continues to be viewed as the third-choice left-back in the Premier League side, Arteta may have a job on his hands keeping him happy. Speaking earlier this month, Tierney admitted he was gutted to be left out against Liverpool but understood the tactical decision for that match.

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The former Celtic star told Sky Sports: “The day before the match, he said ‘it’s not on your performance, this is just a tactical change that I want to make.’ I was like ‘I’m gutted’.

“I’m not going to be angry, I’m not going to not try hard, but I’m gutted because I want to play every opportunity I can. Especially the big games you want to play and you want to soak up the atmosphere.”

“But there’s nothing I can say. We went out and won and Tomiyasu played amazing – the game plan worked! It just shows you because not many managers would think ‘let’s switch a right-back over here’, but he [Arteta] did and it worked.”

Tierney may have accepted the decision once or twice. But he would understandably become frustrated if a right-back continues to get picked ahead of him.

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