‘On the bench’: Pundit says Mikel Arteta should drop £30m Arsenal player tonight

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal are back in the Champions League this season, but, in all honesty, they probably don’t feel like they are back at European football’s top table.

Indeed, in a group with the likes of PSV, Sevilla and RC Lens, Arsenal are in what we would describe as a very Europa League group right now.

Of course, this isn’t the most exciting group in the world, but there are some positives to being in a weak group.

Not only do Arsenal have a great chance of topping this group, they also have scope to rotate their squad in some of these games.

Speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, Adrian Clarke has been discussing Mikel Arteta’s team selection against Lens on Tuesday evening, and he says that he would leave the likes of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice on the bench against Lens.

Bench Odegaard, Saka and Rice

Clarke gave his verdict on Rice, Saka and Arsenal’s £30m captain.

“This is a winnable match for us even if we do rotate, so I would have Saka on the bench, Odegaard on the bench and Declan Rice on the bench just to play it safe. I’d play everyone else, Gabriel Jesus needs gametime, I’d play Saliba. Defensively you don’t want to take liberties, you could leave Saliba out if he’s not 100%, but I don’t like messing around with the defence a lot,” Clarke said.

Rest up

Clarke says that Arsenal should drop these three key players, but we’d argue that Mikel Arteta should make even more changes.

Indeed, with a game against Manchester City on the horizon this weekend, Arsenal need all of their players to be rested and ready to win what is going to be a season-defining game.

With all due respect, Lens have been terrible in Ligue 1 this season, so Arsenal’s second-stringers should be able to get a result here, and even if they don’t, the Gunners have four more very winnable group games still to come.