Arsenal will be hoping history does not repeat itself now they face another period without Kieran Tierney.
It was confirmed yesterday the left-back has injured his left knee and he will undergo surgery this week, which ends his season and possibly his chances of playing in Scotland’s World Cup play-off semi-final in June against Ukraine.
The setback was exactly what Arsenal feared, after they had left out Tierney from Monday’s squad to face Crystal Palace after initial scans last week showed knee damage. Now manager Mikel Arteta has a big problem to solve as he bids to qualify for the Champions League.
Finding a solution began in earnest today. The Arsenal squad were at their London Colney base yesterday, taking part in a light session after Monday’s 3-0 defeat by Palace, but full training took place today as they planned how to navigate the run-in without Tierney. Arteta holds a daily meeting with staff around 9am before training and there are no guesses what will have dominated the agenda today.
Arsenal are fifth in the Premier League with nine games remaining, level on points with Tottenham in fourth but with a game in hand.
It is a year ago to the week that Tierney injured his knee last season. The left-back limped off during a defeat to Liverpool on April 3 and his absence destabilised Arsenal’s season.
He missed the first leg of the Europa League semi-final against Villarreal, which Arsenal lost 2-1. That night, Granit Xhaka filled in for Tierney at left-back but struggled to cope with the pace of Samuel Chukwueze, while in midfield Thomas Partey looked isolated as his usual partner had moved to defence.
For the second leg, Xhaka got injured in the warm-up and Tierney was rushed back in. He managed 80 minutes, but after a month out lacked sharpness and Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw at home that saw them knocked out by former boss Unai Emery.
“It changed our plan completely. We prepared everything with Granit in that position,” said Arteta afterwards.
Arsenal won their final four games after that Europa League exit, with the first being a 3-1 win over West Brom which saw Bukayo Saka thrive at left-back. He set up the Gunners’ opening goal and it was argued by some he should have been moved to defence to cover Tierney’s absence much sooner.
As it was, Arteta went with Xhaka at left-back and that was the same decision he made on Monday night after substituting Nuno Tavares at half-time.
In an ideal world, Nuno would simply come in for Tierney, but there must be doubts about his confidence. Since the turn of the year, the 22-year-old has started just twice and on those occasions he was taken off after 35 and 45 minutes respectively.
The game against Brighton at home on Saturday could be an ideal one in which to start Nuno at left-back, but Arteta has other options, too.
Xhaka could fill in at left-back, but given Partey is struggling with a groin injury, moving the Swiss may weaken the midfield too much.
Saka could drop back, too, and is probably the next best left-back in the squad, but moving your best forward to defence is surely too big a price to pay. Alternatively, Arteta could shift to a back-three, bringing in Rob Holding and allowing Nuno to play as a left wing-back.
Such a formation would give Nuno greater defensive cover and the licence to get forward, which is the best part of his game. There would be concerns, though, about ditching the 4-3-3 that has served Arsenal so well recently.
The easiest solution would be to move Cedric Soares from the right of defence to the left, but that is unlikely to happen this weekend, as Takehiro Tomiyasu is still out injured. The Japan right-back is hoping to be back in two weeks, when Arsenal face Chelsea and Manchester United.
Arteta will hope that is the case as his full-back problems are already serious enough.
