Arsenal fell apart against Crystal Palace on Monday night, and defender Nuno Tavares had a night to forget at Selhurst Park.
The Gunners were looking to secure another win to go back above Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League table.
Instead, Arsenal were dreadful. First-half goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew had Palace 2-0 up before a Wilfried Zaha penalty wrapped up the victory.
Few Arsenal players came out of the game with any credit, but Tavares endured a truly awful night in South London.
The summer signing from Benfica was all over the place in the first half, arguably culpable for both of Palace’s first half goals.
Tavares was then substituted at half time, and whilst Mikel Arteta claimed it was just to get Gabriel Martinelli on the pitch, Tavares has to be worried.
There was an early buzz around Tavares.
Jack Wilshere was impressed very early on. Arsenal fans dubbed Tavares ‘sensational’ and Arteta personally thanked Edu and his scouting department for signing Tavares.
Signed as cover and competition for Kieran Tierney, Tavares showed potential early in the season and left Arsenal fans very excited.
Arteta branded Tavares ‘exceptional’ but right now, he seems more expendable.
Things started to unravel in November when Tavares committed a bizarre error against Liverpool, gifting Diogo Jota a simple goal in a 4-0 Liverpool victory.
Come January, Tavares was substituted after just 35 minutes against Nottingham Forest – a Championship side, a very good one but still a Championship side – having been given the runaround by Brennan Johnson.
With just nine minutes played between that game and last night, Tavares was thrown in against Palace with Kieran Tierney out injured.
It was another dismal performance for Tavares, who has seen that early buzz disappear completely.
The coming months will now show a lot about Tavares’ Arsenal future. With Tierney likely to be out for the rest of the campaign, Tavares should be the prime backup.
If Arteta instead goes with Cedric Soares or Granit Xhaka, it may be difficult for Tavares to come back and prove himself to the Arsenal bench again.
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