Darren Bent suggests £35m player could start in midfield for Arsenal vs Tottenham

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Arsenal face Tottenham in the north London derby this weekend, and it’s fair to say that they come into this game with a crisis on their hands.

Arsenal will be without Declan Rice after his red card against Brighton, while Martin Odegaard is an injury doubt for this game.

Speaking on An Echo of Glory, Darren Bent has been previewing this game and pondering what Arsenal could do in the midfield.

Bent suggested that Leandro Trossard or Kai Havertz could drop back into midfield as they did last season.

However, the pundit also put forward the suggestion that Arsenal could do something different and use Oleksandr Zinchenko in the centre of the park.

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Oleksandr Zinchenko could play in midfield

Bent spoke about Arsenal’s midfield options.

“The midfield will be massive, there’s no Rice, no Merino, you start thinking what are Arsenal going to do in there? Do you put Havertz in there? Do you put Trossard in there? Or do you go and do something completely different and put Zinchenko in there?” Bent said.

Oleksandr Zinchenko is a great option

Oleksandr Zinchenko may be the man Arsenal turn towards in their hour of need.

Thomas Partey can play that deeper midfield role, but it’s the more advanced position that is a problem now.

Jorginho is an option, but a partnership of Partey and Jorginho would seriously lack mobility against a team that presses high and plays with a lot of intensity.

Zinchenko has played that position on numerous occasions with his country, and, in a lot of ways, he’s similar to Granit Xhaka with his ability to pick a pass from deep and drive forward.

The £35m Ukrainian really wouldn’t be a bad option in that left-sided number eight role, and while he’s rarely played there for Arsenal, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Mikel Arteta would be wise to use Zinchenko in the midfield for this game.