Ray Parlour admits that he’s ‘amazed’ that Arsenal’s Lucas Torreira hasn’t had a chance to play

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Arsenal have a chance to put all the negative off-field talk behind them when they take on the Premier League leaders in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night.

Ray Parlour has admitted that he is ‘amazed’ that Lucas Torreira ‘hasn’t had the chance’ to play for Arsenal in his position as he thinks that the drama surrounding Granit Xhaka might fall in his favour.

Arsenal captain Xhaka reacted angrily to being booed by the home supporters when he was substituted during his side’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace over the weekend.

There has been a lot of talk this season as to whether Xhaka is good enough for Arsenal’s first XI, nevermind him being made captain after a vote from his own teammates.

Speaking to The Debate on Sky Sports Football (29/10/19 at 10:30 pm, former Gunners favourite, Parlour shared his thoughts on the Xhaka situation and how he hopes Torreira can now be given a chance to play.

“He [Xhaka] was probably going to be left out anyway [against Liverpool],” Parlour told Sky Sports. “I know it’s a massive game at Anfield but he would have definitely rested players. And he probably would have been one of them.

“Saturday is the game. Saturday will be very interesting to see if he plays. And who is the skipper – I have always been amazed that Torreira has not had a chance to play where he plays because he has shown signs that he can play that role, and I always feel that he’s playing in the wrong position when he plays.

“Maybe it’s an opportunity for him to get in the side there, but for me, he [Xhaka] has to apologies.”

Xhaka is not going to be part of the Arsenal squad that travels to Anfield on Wednesday night to take on Liverpool in the Fourth Round of the EFL Cup.

Liverpool’s main priority is the Premier League, so they are expected to make wholesale changes, but it remains to be seen how many changes Unai Emery makes on the day and whether Torreira will be given a chance to shine.

Nonetheless, Torreira, who joined Arsenal for £26 million last summer [BBC Sport], has been a regular in Emery’s Europa League starting XI, but he has been in and out of the Premier League starting XI.