Danny Murphy has lauded Mikel Arteta for making two "ruthless" substitutions during Arsenal's 3-2 triumph against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Arteta's side recovered from two goals down to beat the Cherries at the Emirates and maintain their five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table. The Gunners are now just 12 games away from winning a first Premier League title in 19 years.
Arsenal were facing a shock defeat when Philip Billing opened the scoring for Bournemouth after just 9.11 seconds - the second-fastest goal in the Premier League's 31-year history. Yet Arteta acted decisively by hooking Takehiro Tomiyasu at half-time.
Marco Senesi's header then made it 2-0 to the visitors before Thomas Partey's goal halved the deficit. At that point, Arteta made another big call by bringing off substitute Emile Smith Rowe - who came on for the injured Leandro Trossard - for Reiss Nelson.
Arteta's bravery was rewarded, as Nelson scored a superb last-gasp winner after Ben White - Tomiyasu's replacement - hit the equaliser. Former Liverpool midfielder Murphy was full of praise for the Arsenal boss on Saturday's Match of the Day.
"Arteta deserves great credit here," said Murphy. "He made two substitutions today - they were ruthless. Tomiyasu off at half-time - not playing particularly well. Ben White comes on - he scored a goal. He brings Emile Smith Rowe off, who’d already come on.
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"He subbed a sub to bring Reiss Nelson on - not really thinking about the player and the affect. He’s thinking, 'This is what we need for the team' - and I thought that was a brilliant bit of management and a tough decision for him, I have to say. Well played Arteta."
The Arsenal boss was quizzed on his decision to bring off Smith Rowe. He told reporters, "We didn't plan to throw him in so early in the game. We knew it would be difficult for him to last for 70 minutes after he'd had five months out, but I think he had a good impact.
"In the end, I felt that we needed something else, especially on the left, as we were attracting more players onto that side - so we made the decision to change."
Trossard, who joined Arsenal from Premier League rivals Brighton in January, was forced out of Saturday's game after just 22 minutes. Arteta admitted, "It is a worry. He came to me straight away and said he couldn't continue. He'd felt something when he was tracking back, so we had to take him off. We'll assess him and see how he is."
The fitness of Trossard and Smith Rowe allowed Nelson to grasp his opportunity. The 23-year-old has struggled for minutes this season, even though he's scored three goals in his three Premier League outings. He could now be poised for a run in the team.
Nelson told the BBC, "When the ball came out to me I was thinking, 'Please give me one chance'. I'm buzzing, really happy. I controlled it with my right foot and it came onto my left... We need moments like this if we want to go all the way."
