‘It’s nonsense’: BBC pundit not happy after seeing what Mikel Arteta did this weekend

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Shay Given can’t get his head around the idea that Mikel Arteta hasn’t put in place a clear penalty taker at Arsenal this season.

Given was speaking on 5 Live’s ‘The Monday Night Club’ and was discussing the situation following Arsenal’s win at Bournemouth.

The pundit was perplexed by the decision to let Kai Havertz take the second penalty.

And Given also couldn’t understand why Arteta had been allowing Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard to share the role at Arsenal in the first place.

He said: “It’s nonsense. I think it’s nonsense. You have to have a penalty taker in place.

“I think Arteta was asked a few weeks ago and he said I don’t know who is taking the penalties.

“Well, if I was the manager of a football club I would know as it would be on the board – you’re taking it, and if you’re not on the pitch you’re taking it.

“I actually covered that game and I was thinking if Havertz misses this and they get a goal the whole stadium picks up and they are hanging on for the last 10 or 20 minutes.”

Given thinks Arteta needs to decide one penalty taker at Arsenal

Of course, there are probably a number of reasons why Arteta is happy with the penalty situation as it is at Arsenal.

Saka and Odegaard have both scored all of their penalties since they’ve been dovetailing in the role.

Moreover, having to prepare for multiple penalty takers when facing Arsenal must make things more difficult for the opposition.

Arteta has shown on multiple occasions that he’s happy to break the status quo with his Arsenal side.

And having this flexibility does give his side another edge.

Although Given was frustrated, Havertz is unlikely to be a regular penalty taker for Arteta at Arsenal.

And given Arsenal’s players made that decision themselves, they clearly didn’t believe they were taking an unnecessary risk.