Arsenal v Man City: Adams calls on Arteta to start Tomiyasu at left-back

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Arsenal legend Tony Adams has urged Mikel Arteta to play Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back instead of Oleksandr Zinchenko against Manchester City.

On Wednesday night, the Gunners will contest arguably the biggest game at the Emirates Stadium in recent years.

Arsenal currently sit three points ahead of Manchester City at the top of the table, albeit with a game in hand.

However, the Citizens can leapfrog Mikel Arteta’s side if they win on Wednesday night.

Adams, writing in The Sun, believes Tomiyasu at left-back would help Arsenal combat Riyad Mahrez’s threat.

“Obviously the chance to go six points clear at the top is a massive incentive for Arsenal,” he wrote.

“But it’s not a cup final and they don’t have to throw caution to the wind.

“When they beat Liverpool earlier this season, Arteta played Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back.

“And it was a genius move because he just sat on Mo Salah and completely cut out that threat.

“It was the same in the 3-2 win against Manchester United last month, when Tomi replaced Ben White at half-time and stopped Marcus Rashford in his tracks.

“So tomorrow I would play Tomi at left–back instead of Oleksandr Zinchenko to take care of Riyad Mahrez because then Arsenal would have enough in midfield and up front exploit City’s weakness on the left of their defence and turn them over.

“I just hope someone in the camp tells Mikel he doesn’t need to get clever for this one because Arsenal haven’t been in particularly great form recently, either, dropping points in their last two games.”

Good shout but all 3 options are decent – TBR View

It’s a good shout from Adams. Tomiyasu has shown he can handle the likes of Salah and Rashford, so it would make sense for him to be tasked with Mahrez.

At the same time, Zinchenko will have faced Mahrez countless times in training at City, so it’s not as if the £120,000-a-week star is a bad shout at left-back either.

And we can’t forget Kieran Tierney. He’s a quality player and would surely be able to contain the City winger well too.

We’ll just have to see at 6:30pm GMT this evening, which is when the Arsenal team news should come out.