Kieran Tierney has suffered with several different injuries since his move from Celtic to Arsenal in the summer of 2019, making 102 appearances for the Gunners over the past three seasons. But, the Scottish international has managed to stay fit for the majority of this campaign featuring in 16 of Arsenal's 17 games this season but he has started only two Premier League games in that time.
The 25-year-old saw his season end when he suffered another knee injury in March 2021 and despite a setback occurring in a pre-season game against FC Nurnberg, Tierney made the matchday squad for the opening day win over Crystal Palace.
Likely concerned about Tierney's injury issues though, Mikel Arteta brought in versatile Ukrainian Oleksandr Zinchenko for £32million from Manchester City, with the Spaniard opting for Zinchenko for much of the early gambit but he has now not featured since the north London derby win over Spurs exactly a month ago today (November 1).
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With Zinchenko out and Tierney getting regular minutes in the Europa League, he looked set to start in a huge Premier League match against Liverpool, but he was snubbed by Arteta in place of Takehiro Tomiyasu and since that game, despite the Japanese defender being right-footed, he has not made one change to his backline for Premier League fixtures.
Some Arsenal fans were confused by Arteta's stubbornness to play Tomiyasu out of position with Tierney available, but the reasoning behind it may have become clearer following some comments made by the 23-year-old.
Speaking to The Sunday Mirror, (30/10, p73), Tomiyasu said: “When I was in Japan, I used to play as a number six, I started playing as a full back three or four years ago in Bologna.”
“But it doesn’t matter where I play. I’m happy to play anywhere on the pitch – as long as I help,” he added.
Arsenal and Arteta are clearly very aware of Tomiyasu's versatility and attitude towards playing in multiple positions and now the man himself has dropped a hint that he could also be an alternative to Thomas Partey, who has suffered with some minor injury problems this season, which forced the Gunners to scramble for a midfielder on deadline day.
And with Mohamed Elneny set for a long spell on the sidelines, Tomiyasu could be in line for a chance further up the pitch, along with a possible bow at centre back with the former Bologna man splitting his time between those two positions when he played for his hometown club Avispa Fukuoka.
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