Sambi Lokonga has sent a message of support to Arsenal teammate Nuno Tavares after the left-back's horror show in the Gunners' 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Monday night.
Tavares was weak when challenging for the ball from a free-kick which allowed Joachim Andersen to set up Jean-Philippe Mateta 's opener on the night. The 22-year-old was then caught flat-footed as he failed to anticipate Gabriel Magalhaes' mistake in the build-up to Jordan Ayew's second.
As a result, he was brought off and replaced by Gabriel Martinelli at the break, although Mikel Arteta did insist that it was just a tactical tweak: "Today it was just a tactical reason," said he said in his post-match press conference. "How I wanted to do it with what Palace were doing there and how we could attack and control the game much better in that position, put another attacking midfielder with Emile in that position. I’m sorry that it was Nuno again but we had to do it."
