‘We had to do it’: Mikel Arteta apologises to Arsenal player after Crystal Palace result

Follow us on Google Discover

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has apologised to defender Nuno Tavares after he was substituted at half time against Crystal Palace.

The Gunners needed a win on Monday night having seen Tottenham Hotspur smash Newcastle United 5-1 on Sunday.

Instead, Arsenal completely unravelled in a 3-0 thumping at Selhurst Park.

Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew had Palace 2-0 up before a Wilfried Zaha penalty sealed the 3-0 win in the second half.

Arteta tried to change the game at half time by bringing on Gabriel Martinelli at half time, hooking Nuno Tavares.

To say that Tavares had a nightmare of a first half would be an understatement.

The Portuguese left back bizarrely tried to duck at the back post for Mateta’s opener, with Joachim Andersen beating him to the ball.

Tavares was then completely out of sync with the rest of his back line for Ayew’s goal, allowing the Ghanaian to swoop in and score.

Arteta had seen enough, substituting Tavares at the break.

Sadly for Tavares, this isn’t the first time he’s been pulled early. The summer signing from Benfica was substituted after just 35 minutes against Nottingham Forest in January too.

With just nine minutes of action since then, Arteta may not feel all that comfortable with Tavares in his starting lineup.

Yet with Kieran Tierney potentially out for the season, Tavares had to step up and may yet be needed moving forward.

Arteta spoke to Football London after Monday’s defeat, but actually refused to lay any blame at Tavares’ door.

Arteta instead claims it was purely a tactical decision to get Martinelli on the pitch, seemingly suggesting that Tavares’ display wasn’t a problem.

That may be what Arteta is saying in public, but privately he may now be worrying about his left back options with Tierney out.

“Today it was just a tactical reason,” said Arteta. “How I wanted to do it with what Palace were doing there and how we could attack and control the game much better in that position, put another attacking midfielder with Emile in that position. I’m sorry that it was Nuno again but we had to do it,” he added.