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Jamie Redknapp has questioned the decision from Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to start goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson on Tuesday night.

The Gunners were beaten 4-1 at home to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals and it was a night to forget for their Icelandic shot-stopper.

Runarsson’s positioning could be questioned on a couple of the Man City goals, but it was his poor attempt to save a Riyad Mahrez free-kick that really put him under the spotlight as he parried the ball into his own net from a tame effort.

The 25-year-old is the understudy to number one Bernd Leno this season and last night showed the drop off in quality between the pair.

Redknapp claimed post-match that it didn’t make sense for Arteta to leave out his number one for a cup quarter-final, especially as they are struggling down in 15th in the Premier League table.

“It’s a nightmare for the poor boy. I’m sure Arsenal fans are thinking ‘why didn’t you play Leno?’… Goalkeepers don’t need to rest,” Redknapp told Sky Sports’ Main Event channel (10:05pm, 22 December).

“It didn’t really make sense playing him in the first place. That being said hopefully he comes back from it quickly.

“He should have played his best goalkeeper today. It’s obviously been a monumental mistake to play the young man, hasn’t worked out.”

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Arsenal fans will now be keeping their fingers crossed that Leno isn’t unavailable for any part of the rest of the season, as they’ve got a player in reserve that will be extremely low on confidence after his mistakes against Man City at the Emirates Stadium.

It will continue to frustrate fans when the name Emiliano Martinez is mentioned following his sale to Aston Villa in the summer, but in reality there was no way they would’ve been able to keep someone of his quality on the bench for another year.

Unfortunately it looks like Arsenal have got it wrong in their recruitment of Runarsson, who will need to show a lot of character to come back.