Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has told Football London that he could use some of the Gunners’ players who started last night against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.
Arsenal rotated their side in the Europa League, with a number of young players coming into the team.
The Gunners performed well, despite an inexperienced line-up, and ended up winning 4-1 in the contest.
And Arteta has now suggested that he may trust Arsenal’s prospects in a far more pressurised environment on Sunday.
“You’ve seen that in the last few games we’ve used some players on Thursday and they played on the weekend,” he said.
“This can change and this will change.
“I try to use different competitions to put two different teams, it’s because as well we are using them with the amount of injuries, suspensions and things that we had the performance level that they can give is in very good positions and you can see tonight that some of them might deserve to start the game on Sunday.”
Arteta’s words surely must offer some encouragement to the likes of Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles that they could start at the weekend.
The Arsenal academy graduates both put in impressive displays yesterday, as Arteta’s side kept up their 100% record in Europe this season.
Arsenal have been lacking dynamism and energy so far this season, and the young pair would surely offer them that if they were given the chance to feature in the North London derby.
Arsenal have won just once in their last five matches, and if they are beaten by Tottenham they will fall 11 points behind their North London rivals already.
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