‘He had difficulties’: Even Arteta says Arsenal 22-year-old struggled today

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Mikel Arteta has admitted that Nuno Tavares struggled in a major way for Arsenal against Manchester United this afternoon.

Arsenal moved into the top four in the Premier League with a massive 3-1 victory over the Red Devils in North London.

And much of that is owed to Tavares, who opened the scoring within minutes of kickoff at the Emirates Stadium.

Going forward, there’s no doubt that the 22-year-old Portuguese left-back is exceptional.

Defensively, however, it’s another case entirely and that was evident again against Ralf Rangnick’s side.

Tavares struggled with the speed of Antony Elanga on a number of occasions, despite the Arsenal player being bullet fast himself.

And in the second when Diego Dalot went through on goal from the right, Tavares was nowhere to be seen.

The former Benfica defender remains very much a work in progress following a £7 million move to England last summer.

Here’s what Arteta told BT Sport after the game: “He had difficulties in the second half a bit but we helped him with a change of shape. They are really young. You can sense it at some stages in games that we have to make other decisions.”

Arsenal might be tempted to sign another left-back this summer.

Yes, they have Kieran Tierney, who is brilliant, but the Scotland international has a rotten injury record despite being only 24.

Next season it’s very probable that the former Celtic star will miss a lot more games for the same reason and it’s vital that the Gunners have a ready-made replacement to come in when that happens.

And is Tavares going to come on leaps and bounds in a defensive context in that time? Well, it’s doubtful and perhaps another addition is wise this summer.