Kieran Tierney's career at Arsenal has seen him face plenty of challenges in terms of serious injuries and competition with teammates.
Mikel Arteta was keen on signing a left-sided defender in the summer transfer window, which led to the arrival of former Manchester City star Oleksandr Zinchenko. The Ukraine international completed a £30million transfer to the Emirates Stadium and started the season ahead of Tierney at left-back, as the Scottish defender continued to recover from an injury that saw him miss most of pre-season.
Tierney soon regained his starting spot after Zinchenko was hampered with his own injury problems, but in recent weeks Arteta has opted for Japanese defender Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back. An impressive display against Liverpool saw Tomiyasu retain his spot and now Tierney looks set for another battle to regain his place in the starting XI.
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Former Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre has offered some advice to the Scotland international as he fights for his place in Arteta's team. Speaking to bettingexpert, Silvestre said: "It’s true that the manager is using options that we wouldn’t guess at the beginning of the season.
"You know, Ben White at right-back and Tomiyasu at left-back against Salah, for instance. There’s a lot of competition.
"Tierney is a good player so again, it’s not easy to deal with these situations. But he also has a very good mentality, he just needs to keep patient and wait for opportunities. There will be a lot of games to play."
The Gunners have endured a busy fixture schedule so far this season and still have four games left before the World Cup begins later this month. Arteta may be looking to protect Tierney's fitness after his struggles in the past, considering that Arsenal will be competing both domestically and in Europe in the new year as games continue to come thick and fast.
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