What started off as another potential north London derby win for Arsenal, turned into a nightmare, with Mikel Arteta's side gifting Tottenham two easy goals to claim a point in a thrilling Premier League encounter at the Emirates. Whether it was the tired legs from the mid-week Champions League game against PSV or not, the Gunners just didn't look themselves, and a couple of particularly woeful performances led to a frustrating afternoon for the home side.
Arsenal's Carabao Cup clash against Brentford on Wednesday gives Arteta the opportunity to rest and rotate anyway, but judging by the performances of these three players down below, the Spaniard may well consider dropping them. Here are the three players who let their manager down against Spurs on Sunday...
3
Eddie Nketiah
Arsenal's Eddie Nketiah looks on during Tottenham Hotspur clash
Given that Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard were out injured - the latter being ruled out was a source of surprise when the team-sheets were announced - Arteta almost had the choice taken away in terms of whether Eddie Nketiah would play or not. The Arsenal boss would surely have been hoping that the striker who had been recently called up to the England senior squad would deliver on the biggest occasion, but he desperately fluffed his lines. Such was Arteta's faith in Nketiah, that it was the senior man, Gabriel Jesus, who was shunted out wide, with the Arsenal academy product being tasked with leading the line.
While England U21s' record goal-scorer certainly worked his socks off like usual, the lack of an end product was again the big let-down for him. His best chance of the game when he picked up on an errant back-pass from Spurs left-back Destiny Udogie, and despite having all the time in the world to either pick his spot or try and lay it off to the onrushing Fabio Vieira, he only managed to strike it straight at Guglielmo Vicario and out for a corner. The fact he managed just six total passes in the entire 90 minutes that he was on the pitch tells you everything you need to know about both the lack of service to him, but also his completeCategory
Stat
Match rating
5.3
Error leading to goal
1
Tackles won
0
Duels lost
3
Dribbles
0
Declan Rice's potential injury and absence would rob Arteta of another first-team star in the middle of the park, given Thomas Partey is no closer to making a return to action anytime soon. Mohamed Elneny however is clearly someone the Arsenal manager rates, and having returned from his own injury to make the bench against Spurs, the Egypt international may well consider his chances of a surprise start shoot up considerably, despite Arteta admitting that he would back Jorginho to the hilt
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