Ian Wright can’t believe Mikel Arteta subbed off 26-year-old Arsenal player vs Spurs

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Ian Wright has admitted he’s unsure why Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta substituted Gabriel Jesus instead of Bukayo Saka on Sunday.

Wright was speaking on his podcast and questioned one of the calls made by the Spanish coach.

Arsenal went into the match in a far-from-ideal situation given the injuries within the squad.

It’s easy to forget the club invested in Jurrien Timber to improve their defence only to pick up a serious injury on the opening day of the Premier League season.

Thomas Partey has been ruled out too, while Leandro Trossard was also ruled out after impressing following Gabriel Martinelli’s injury.

This led Arteta to hand Gabriel Jesus his first league start of the season on the left wing, with Eddie Nketiah playing through the middle.

The 24-year-old struggled to make an impact unless you ask Guglielmo Vicario who was on the end of a nasty challenge from the striker.

However, Bukayo Saka looked fatigued towards the end of the match and Wright questioned why he wasn’t brought off by Arteta instead of Jesus.

The Brazilian needed to play through the middle to have the desired impact on Sunday.

It was a questionable decision but then Saka is a player who can provide a moment of magic at any stage in a game.

Wright questions why Arteta substituted Jesus

Speaking about the decision not to bring off Saka until the final moments, Wright said: “I don’t want to get on this bandwagon about [Bukayo] Saka and the resting.

Ryan Hunn: “He should have come off, I have no idea unless there was a problem, I have no idea why Gabriel Jesus gets taken off on 77 minutes.

Wright: “That didn’t make sense. It’s going to get to a place where he’s going to be thinking, ‘Christ sake man’, when do I get a break? When’s it going to happen?

“Because we have to manage him, we have to. He himself, he actually pushed Ben White on and said, ‘No, you go because I’m going to stay here because I can’t do it’.

“I don’t know what it is with Mikel [Arteta] because I know that Mikel is very much in that place of when he says something that he wants, but I think he really has to find a way to manage this and manage this guy.

“We’re talking about seven games in and there’s a worry.”

Arteta will have to heed Wright’s warning when Arsenal face Brentford tomorrow and rest Saka while potentially giving Jesus a chance to play his way into form.

It was clear the young winger had run out of energy towards the end of the match.

After causing Destiny Udogie so many problems in the first half, the young Italian had a much easier time after the break.