‘I’d expect’: Gary Neville reckons £45m Arsenal player is going to change position next week

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It’s been something of a mixed bag for Arsenal to start this season.

Seven points from an available nine isn’t a bad return whatsoever, but each of the Gunners’ three performances so far have been unconvincing.

They nearly threw away a two-goal lead against Nottingham Forest, they sneaked past Crystal Palace with a penalty, and they, of course, dropped points against Fulham.

Arsenal, quite simply, haven’t looked as fluid as they once did, and according to Gary Neville, something needs to change.

Speaking on his podcast, the pundit has called for Mikel Arteta to stop using Thomas Partey as a right-back, claiming that he should shift back into midfield with Arsenal using a more solid back four next week against Manchester United.

Move Partey

Neville shared his verdict on the £45m player’s position.

“Looking at Arsenal. There’s an element of experimentation, full-backs who think they can play in midfield, midfielders who think they can play at full-back, Partey has sort of played half and half in a game. There’s an element of you sort of have to go back to basics and I’d expect next week that Arteta will end that experiment and he will go with a solid back four and move Partey into the midfield with Rice and maybe Odegaard,” Neville said.

Change it

It’s all well and good experimenting in this way against teams like Forest, Palace and Fulham, but this weekend against Manchester United will be an old-school battle between two evenly-matched sides.

Arsenal can’t muck about against United, because any weakness will be exploited to the full extent, and, as Neville says, the Gunners’ best bet is to use Partey in a more familiar position and try to dominate this game in the same way they did last season.

Arsenal need to return to what worked so well for them last term.