The big debate has been over whether Kieran Tierney would unseat Oleksandr Zinhenko and returning to the Arsenal XI.
But removing the Ukraine international was not the major talking point in the immediate aftermath of their 4-1 pasting at the hands of Manchester City. The defeat sees City move two points behind their title rivals with two games in hand after mopping the floor with their biggest contenders to deny them a third consecutive English Premier League crown.
Multiple punters have been left utterly convinced Mikel Arteta missed a trick by not including Tierney either as Gabriel's partner in back four or in a back three – repeating the success the £25m former Celtic man has enjoyed with the Scotland national team. William Saliba's injury has led to Rob Holding returning to the rearguard and the former England U21 international struggled mightily with the direct running of double goal hero Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland.
Punters became more annoyed as the game continued and Tierney was left twiddling his thumbs on the bench with the rampaging left-back retaining major support from a core of Arsenal followers who reckons he should be starting under the Spaniard.
And it was the same message over and over on social media with miffed Gooners venting. Here's what fans have been saying.
Chris Stevens wrote: "Kieran Tierney must really be shaking his head wondering what he has to do to get a game, a proper defender and a winner."
Indigo added: "Arsenal haven’t been as good since Jesus came back from injury. Plus they lack a real left back, oh wait forgot they had Kieran Tierney. The inverted left back tactic used to keep Zinchenko in the team has been exploited by opponents over the last month or so."
Donny P said: "Arteta refused to bring on Tierney earlier vs Liverpool, made very poor changes against West Ham, insisted on Vieira for an hour and vs Southampton, today despite poor performance insisting on playing holding. Ben white not a CB? Tierney is better than Holding. Embarrassing."
Carl wrote: "Tierney wouldn’t have been bullied by Walker, and can defend, and offer something on the transition. Pep has shown Arteta up tonight, his inverter full back tactics are ok if you have other tactics too."
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