The player charged with solving part of Arsenal's end of season injury crisis can at least step in having previously been hailed as "phenomenal" by Sir Alex Ferguson.
On Thursday, Mikel Arteta learnt of a huge double blow to his team's quest of overhauling Man City in the Premier League title race, with defenders William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko ruled out for the remainder of the season. The news on the former is no surprise, having not played since March 16 when he was forced off in Arsenal's Europa League last-16 shootout defeat to Sporting Lisbon.
Left back Zinchenko though, represents a fresh problem after he was forced off during the win over Newcastle last Sunday with a calf issue. And the club have confirmed he will not be fit for any of their three remaining games this season, starting with Brighton on Sunday.
Kieran Tierney is now set to deputise for the Ukrainian. The former Celtic man proved a key figure in his first three seasons after arriving from Glasgow in 2019, but his role has been reduced in this campaign amid the form of ex-City player Zinchenko.
But he has the capabilities to perform, certainly in the eyes of arguably the greatest manager to ever grace the Premier League. Ferguson was asked about his national team, Scotland, during a Lockdown Theatre Live show and singled out the Arsenal player for special praise.
“I do think Scotland have some very good midfield players, and I’m not sure how they’re gonna play (Andy) Robertson and Tierney in the same team,” he explained. I know there were some situations where they played Tierney as the third centre-back, but the form of Tierney since he’s gone to Arsenal has been phenomenal.”
Tierney has made 120 appearances for the club in all competitions, and was instrumental in their 2019/20 FA Cup win behind closed doors. And despite Arteta's preference for Zinchenko, the 25-year-old still has 24 league games under his belt in this season, albeit the majority of which from off the bench.
And speaking in the aftermath of his side's win at St James' Park, the Spanish boss wasn't about to dwell on potential injury blows. Instead, he gave a vote of confidence to the depth of his squad ahead of three pivotal must-win matches.
"We can’t control certain things, we have to accept that and that’s why we have other players who can fulfil those roles," he said. "We try to help them and support them as much as possible, don’t look for too many excuses and just find the right solutions to win matches."
