Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has defended his decision to play Willian and Alexandre Lacazette against Burnley on Sunday.
The Gunners were looking to snap a torrid run of form, but ended up falling to a 1-0 defeat as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s own goal handed Burnley all three points.
Granit Xhaka’s second-half red card left Arsenal in the lurch, and Burnley took advantage by bagging the winner, with Arsenal unable to get back into the game.
This now means that Arsenal have won just one of their last eight Premier League games, and have scored just twice in that run.
Those goals came from a penalty and a header from a free kick, with Arteta’s men desperately seeking any kind of threat from open play.
Yet still, Arteta picked Willian and Lacazette in his starting lineup despite the duo being in poor form in front of goal, going with their experience over the youthful exuberance of talents like Emile Smith Rowe and Folarin Balogun.
Arteta suggested when speaking to Football.London after the game that he felt going with Willian and Lacazette was Arsenal’s best way to win the game.
Arteta added that the likes of Smith Rowe and Balogun haven’t been around the first-team reckoning for all that long due to injury or contract situations, but he understands why fans are calling for the duo after yet another defeat.
“Well, we have shaked things a lot in other games that has worked, in others it hasn’t,” said Arteta. “We tried to pick a team that gives us the best possibility to win the game.”
“I don’t know, we tried to play… again actually, the same thing – the players that in my opinion are going to give us the best chance to perform and players on the bench that can do that. Some of the ones that you mentioned, they’ve been a really short time with us., because of injuries and other different situations. I understand when you lose,” he added.
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