Mikel Arteta urged to drop Arsenal star by Gary Neville ahead of clash with Chelsea

Gary Neville believes Mikel Arteta has to drop an Arsenal player for the crunch match with Chelsea.

The reigning Premier League champions host ‘The Blues’ at the Emirates on Sunday.

Gary Neville tells Mikel Arteta to drop Christos Tzolis

Gary Neville is adamant that Mikel Arteta must drop Christos Tzolis for the match against Chelsea.

The player, who signed for the London side from Club Brugge for £34 million this summer, has made a good impression thus far into his journey in England, performing well in the Community Shield, and indeed, the game with Ipswich.

However, his showing wasn’t as impressive against Aston Villa, and Neville took note.

After watching the Greek get substituted at half-time, with the manager bringing on Eberechi Eze, who looked tremendous, the former Manchester United star believes it ought to be the Englishman playing in the next match.

During an episode of his Sky Sports Podcast, he explained: “Look, it’s early for him. I didn’t get too carried away last week and said I wanted to see a bit more from him.

“The Community Shield was obviously promising, and then the game against Coventry as well. But I did think he was doing one thing well; he seems to just cut in, and right-backs will start to understand that.

“Matty Cash just set about him during the Aston Villa game; he was really aggressive, and it was a little bit of a mauling. That will be good for Tzolis, just making him aware of what this is going to be like.

“He’s not going to have it easy, and he’s going to have opponents who want to get really close to him and make it difficult for him. It was a tough game for him.

“But I thought Eze did really well when he came on. There’s a lot going on in that midfield for Eze, given they’ve got Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and now Bruno Guimaraes in there.

“I think he may have to get really good at being a left-sided player for Arsenal. Sometimes you just need to look at which positions are opening up for you and basically take it. 

“I thought he did really well in the second half; I would be surprised if he doesn’t play next week against Chelsea. 

“It’s a big game and Mikel Arteta might just have to tell Tzolis, “I’m not going to put you into this one but watch this match.” Eze has a bit more strength about him and certainly more experience in the Premier League. 

“I would be stunned if Eze doesn’t play next week because he played really well in the second half at Aston Villa.”

Michael Owen claims Mikel Arteta should drop Christos Tzolis

Neville isn’t the only one who thinks Tzolis ought to come out of the Arsenal starting XI, with Michael Owen suggesting the same thing, telling Premier League Productions: “It will be interesting to see if Eze keeps his place against Chelsea at the weekend. I would suggest he might.

“He certainly did more than Tzolis in the game today, so I think he could be in line for a start against Chelsea in a cracking game to start the season.’

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