Paul Merson believes that Mikel Arteta made an "unbelievable mistake" by starting Fabio Vieira over Jorginho in Arsenal's 3-3 draw with Southampton.
Although a last-gasp comeback rescued a point for Arsenal, the Gunners drew their third successive Premier League game to give Manchester City the upper hand in a compelling title race. With midfield general Granit Xhaka absent due to illness at the eleventh hour, £34million summer signing Vieira was picked by Arteta to start only his third league fixture.
Unfortunately for the Portuguese playmaker, like on multiple occasions in his first year at the Emirates, he struggled to assert himself against the side who sit bottom of the table. Vieira was dragged off after 57 insipid minutes, with the score 3-1 to Southampton.
Yet it wasn't Jorginho who replaced him, rather Belgian forward Leandro Trossard as Arteta opted for a more attacking setup. Nevertheless, Merson reckons that having the experienced 31-year-old - who joined for £12m in January from London rivals Chelsea - instead of Vieira would've given Arsenal a much stronger starting point and not meant they were two goals adrift after 14 minutes.
"Arsenal played Fabio Vieira instead of Jorginho last week, and I thought that was unbelievable," the former Gunners midfielder told Sportskeeda ahead of Wednesday's potential title-deciding game against City away from home.
"They've brought Jorginho in to be a calm head in big matches. I didn't think the game against Southampton was a foregone conclusion, and to keep Jorginho on the bench was a big mistake."
Merson went on to argue that without star centre-back William Saliba, Arsenal required more defensive cover from their midfielders which Vieira, 22, failed to provide. "Southampton wouldn't have believed their luck when they saw Jorginho on the bench. He sits in, dictates play, and controls games," he added of the Italy international, whose last start at club level came on March 16.
"With [Rob] Holding playing instead of Saliba, Arsenal needed protection from their midfield - not people getting turned. Arteta hasn't done a lot wrong this season, but he made a mistake there."
Post-match, Arteta was directly asked about Vieira's disappointing display but the Arsenal manager was reluctant to criticise him. "It was a difficult match for a lot of players but for Fabio, he hasn't played enough minutes," Arteta explained.
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"He had good periods but the way the game starts as well, instead of going one or two-nil up, and everything goes in your favour, it starts to go in a much more difficult way. That doesn't help."
In February, the Gunners boss noted that Vieira's cameo appearances and performances in training were giving him a "big headache." Arteta added: "He is a tremendous player; he now understands exactly what we want and physically he is in a condition to compete at the right level in this league. He brings qualities that we don’t have in the squad. I am very eager to give him more [minutes]."
