Arsenal were forced into some interesting changes as they took on Monaco in the UEFA Champions League. A three-goal win and many missed chances perhaps flattered to deceive when it came to the overall performance but it got the job done.
There had been a lot of focus before the match on who might start in the back line. With Jurrien Timber, Thomas Partey and Myles Lewis-Skelly suffering fitness concerns in the week with the former pair missing the open training session they added to the growing list of absentees.
Gabriel Magalhaes, Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are all out of action at the moment. One player though whose name has become far more in focus is Kieran Tierney.
With the crisis, Mikel Arteta was asked about the Scottish international before the European match and his answer gave something of an encouragement we might see him very soon. Read back, because to me it almost felt inevitable.
“Yeah, he is ready and he’s training really well and he’s going to have an opportunity for sure with the way the team is looking at the moment,” he said. “It’s for that reason and because he’s earned it as well with the way he’s behaved and the way he’s been with us because he’s willing to do it and when that happens you have to give opportunities to those kinds of players.”
Now, sitting here the day after the Monaco win, we know that once again Tierney was an unused substitute on the night. Arteta decided to start 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly at left-back and Partey and Timber both made the squad with the Ghanaian in the right-back position.
As the game progressed, Arteta used all five of his substitutes, none of whom were Tierney. Even Timber, with his fitness concerns, entered the fray – perhaps the game state didn’t warrant it.
In the second section of Tuesday’s press conference, Arteta made reference to the upcoming transfer window. It was of course predominantly about incomings but the link was there.
“The window gives us an opportunity to strengthen the team if we feel that is needed and we feel that we have the capacity to do that as well,” he said. “We are on it and just have to assess the situation because it is changing every week.
“At the moment not for the better, but I’m positive that in a few weeks, we’re going to be in a better place.”
The ‘better place’ Arteta refers to of course is to do with players returning from injury rather than signings, I am sure of that. However, there will be scope and expectation of deals to be done this winter.
Should the side get those players back, and Tierney still not being used, it is a big sign that again the next window which Tierney is fit and ready to play could spell the end to his time with the club. His snub here might just do it, and the League Cup match next week might again reinforce that point.