A solitary Kieran Tierney goal handed Arsenal victory on Thursday night.
The Gunners moved into the next round of the Europa League as Group A winners with a 1-0 victory over Zurich in North London.
Tierney’s excellent goal in the first half was enough to give Arsenal all three points.
Earlier on Thursday, there was speculation [Telegraph] about the former Celtic left-back – a £25 million signing in 2019 [BBC Sport] – quitting the Emirates Stadium outfit in January, as covered by HITC Sport.
The Scotland international is now Arsenal’s third-choice in Mikel Arteta’s pecking order for that position in Premier League games, behind Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
But Paul Merson, speaking to Sportskeeda, claims that the Spanish manager will need to keep his squad deep this summer and believes players like Tierney are invaluable.
He said: “Arsenal need a big squad and it does look like they’ll go deep into multiple competitions. They’re at the top of the Premier League table, and they’re doing well in the Europa League. Arsenal need to keep players like Kieran Tierney in their squad.”
In fairness, Merson is absolutely correct.
Yes, Tierney is third choice at the moment, but let’s not pretend he couldn’t be playing regularly in the near future.
Zinchenko is already shaping up to be relatively injury prone and has been sidelined on two separate occasions for Arsenal this season, whereas Tomiyasu has also spent much of 2022 on the treatment table.
Okay so Tierney is hardly the epitome is full health himself when it comes to fitness, having had a number of long-term injuries during his career, but there could be a time when he’s massively needed and honestly, Arsenal cannot afford to lose him.
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