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Football London
Football London
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Rohan Jivan

Mikel Arteta drops Nuno Tavares hint as Arsenal prepare to take on Southampton amid injury worry

Arsenal take on Southampton tomorrow afternoon in the Premier League in the hope of getting back to winning ways following disappointing results in their previous two fixtures.

The Gunners' hopes of finishing in the top four have been dented after back to back defeats to Patrick Vieira's Crystal Palace and most recently against Brighton at the Emirates last Saturday.

But with Arsenal just three points behind Spurs, who currently sit in fourth, Mikel Arteta's men are still well in the race for a spot in Europe's top-flight next season although a win is desperately needed tomorrow afternoon.

READ MORE: Arsenal handed Thomas Partey injury blow as Mikel Arteta hints midfielder's season may be over

Southampton however will certainly not be an easy game for the north Londoners, despite the fact that Ralph Hasenhuttl's men were on the receiving end of a battering last time out, losing to Chelsea 6-0.

Under the stewardship of the Austrian coach, the Saints are renowned for their high pressing style and they will certainly aim to prevent the Arsenal backline and midfield from having frequent joy in playing out from the back and progressing past the first phase.

From Arteta's point of view, it will be interesting to see who the Spaniard favours at left-back in the absence of Kieran Tierney, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season after picking up a knee injury on international duty.

The former Manchester City assistant coach instructed Granit Xhaka to fill in for the Scotsmen last time out, ahead of Nuno Tavares and it seems like Arteta may favour the Swiss international in this role tomorrow afternoon.

"When I see in the moment that he [Nuno] is doubting, I don’t give any favour by putting him in there. You can discuss whether Granit can play there. Just look at the stats when the team has played with Granit as a left-back. They don’t get much better, " Arteta said in his pre-match press conference.

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