Micah Richards questions what Mikel Arteta did with £45m Arsenal player yesterday

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Micah Richards has questioned why Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta decided to play Gabriel Jesus on the wing against Tottenham Hotspur.

Richards was speaking on The Rest Is Football Podcast after the North London derby.

Mikel Arteta was forced into one change to the starting line-up yesterday after Leandro Trossard was unavailable due to injury.

After losing Gabriel Martinelli against Everton, it created a difficult situation for the Arsenal boss.

He had several options on the bench including Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe.

However, he turned to Gabriel Jesus who was starting his first league match of the season after recovering from an injury.

The £45m Brazilian spent much of his time at Manchester City playing out wide.

He was stuck behind Sergio Aguero in the pecking order at the Etihad and moved to Arsenal partly to play as a centre-forward.

Richards has questioned why Arteta gave Jesus the nod to play in the position against Tottenham yesterday.

Given Eddie Nketiah didn’t have his finest match, it was also a surprise to see him stay on the pitch ahead of Jesus in the second half.

However, that might have come down to his lack of competitive minutes this season.

Richards surprised by Arteta Jesus decision

Talking about the match, Richards said: “We’ve got to give credit to Arsenal, they just played some brilliant stuff.

“I’m not too sure about [Gabriel] Jesus on the wing. I’ve seen him at Man City and a lot of his good stuff did come from wide areas on the right or on the left.

“But I think they bought him to be a striker, the manager [Mikel] Arteta trusts [Eddie] Nketiah, I know that.

“But, you’ve got to play Jesus down the middle. I know [Leandro] Trossard was injured and [Gabriel] Martinelli was injured as well, but you’ve got to play Jesus down the middle I think.”

Jesus had arguably Arsenal’s best chance of the match when he dispossessed James Maddison but blazed his shot over the bar.

That lack of sharpness in front of goal might explain why Arteta went with Nketiah through the middle instead of Jesus as Richards suggested.

He was eventually replaced by Nelson who looked more comfortable in the wide areas.

Jesus has been backed to continue improving as he gets fitter and plays more minutes.

However, he will likely want to put yesterday’s performance behind him as quickly as possible.