Arsenal boss Unai Emery has made Sokratis an important member of his side’s defence.
Sokratis made a huge error for Arsenal in their game against Watford at the weekend, as they threw away a two goal lead.
The Greek defender, who is on a £92,000-a-week contract at the Emirates Stadium (Spotrac), came out after the game and apologised for his error.
However, Nicholas has suggested that he doesn’t understand why Emery rates that Arsenal centre-back so highly.
And he has suggested that a huge reshuffle of the defence may be needed, with Kieran Tierney coming into the team.
“What is the attraction to Sokratis Papastathopoulos? I would play Kieran Tierney on Thursday and see if Hector Bellerin could start too,” Nicholas said, ahead of Arsenal’s Europa League game against Eintracht Frankfurt.
“Konstantinos Mavropanos is still game time away from being fit. It would be the end if Shkodran Mustafi was to be brought back. We need to get Rob Holding, Bellerin and Tierney back into the side as soon as possible.”
Tierney has not been fit enough to play for Arsenal yet, but his return to action does not seem to be far away.
Whether he will get the nod to start on Thursday remains to be seen, but it would be a major boost to the Gunners if he was deemed to be ready for action.
Arsenal made it to the Europa League final last term, with Emery a big fan of the competition, so it seems likely they will put out a relatively strong line-up on Thursday.
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