Stuart Pearce believes Mikel Arteta cost Arsenal in their FA Cup defeat at Manchester City this Friday. He feels the Spaniard’s team selection was the ‘small margin’ to decide the tie.
Arsenal lost 1-0 in the fourth round at the Etihad Stadium with Nathan Ake (64’) stroking in the only goal. The left-back’s effort proved the difference in a close contest despite Arteta resting six of his regular starters. Pep Guardiola only made two changes to his last line-up.
Arteta only had Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, William Saliba, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli on Arsenal’s bench. Yet he did introduce all but Ramsdale and White. Leandro Trossard also had a solid first start after his £27m move from Brighton.
Trossard was Arsenal’s brightest outlet during the first half after consistently causing John Stones issues and getting past Rico Lewis. But Fabio Vieira struggled in Odegaard’s place in midfield with the £34m summer signing often unable to influence the flow of the match.
Rob Holding also came into the Arsenal XI at Manchester City and performed well in most against Erling Haaland. Although a yellow card for the centre-half forced Arteta to bring on Saliba at half-time. While wing-back Kieran Tierney gave the Gunners’ little in their attacks.
Arteta can take some comfort in Arsenal’s FA Cup defeat to Manchester City
A rib injury for Thomas Partey also forced Arteta to introduce Albert Sambi Lokonga at half-time. But the Belgian struggled to fill the Ghanaian’s boots as he could not impose himself on or off the ball. Arteta also elected to take star man Bukayo Saka off in the 74th minute.
Arsenal showed a huge improvement from their last trip to Manchester City in their 1-0 FA Cup loss. The Citizens thrashed the Gunners, who saw Granit Xhaka sent off on 35 minutes, 5-0 at the Etihad in August 2021. Holding endured a nightmare in their league defeat, too.
Now, Arsenal can take comfort in their performance with Arteta naming a heavily changed XI before facing Manchester City in the Premier League on February 15. But Pearce has put the Spaniard’s team selection down as the reason why the Gunners are out of the FA Cup.
“I think we learnt you can’t leave too many of your players out and expect to beat City,” Pearce said on talkSPORT (28/01, 22:03). “Arsenal were happy to come here and go toe-to-toe. The small margin tonight that dictated the result was the team changes for Arsenal.”
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