Monday's defeat to Crystal Palace and a number of injury concerns have made it a week to forget for Arsenal so far. The Gunners have the chance to put things right and rejuvenate a lost sense of belief on Saturday when they face struggling Brighton & Hove Albian, but they will have to do so without Kieran Tierney.
The club announced on Tuesday that the Scotsman felt discomfort after a training session last week, with further assessments and scans confirming that he has damaged his left knee. As a result, Tierney now requires surgery which is set to take place in the forthcoming days and will likely miss the remainder of the season.
It is a huge blow for Mikel Arteta, whose side is battling against the likes of Tottenham and Manchester United for Champions League qualification. To dive deeper into what Tierney's injury means for the Gunners, football.london's Arsenal writers Tom Canton and Kaya Kaynak discussed Nuno Tavares and whether or not he can be relied upon between now and the end of the season.
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"He doesn't look like he's playing with much confidence at the minute," Kaya said. "You think back to that game against Newcastle, he had something like eight shots. I can't imagine him doing anything similar like that now, I can't imagine him playing with the level of confidence required to do something like that.
"I just don't think it will work for him. That said though it's a crunch time of the season, Arsenal still need points. The top four race is very tight. They cannot afford to drop points right now and if playing Nuno Tavares means they're more likely to drop points, then Mikel Arteta has to do what's best for the team.
"He's got that tricky balance to strike between obviously the short term which is winning the next game and the game after that and the long term, which is obviously a 22-year-old guy now who is going to be possibly in the Arsenal squad for years to come. So yeah, there's a tough balance to strike."
Kaya then touched on how Arsenal's current setup is different compared to when Tavares last played, admitting he doesn't see things working out this time around and that it may mean someone else playing ahead of him.
"I think it's tricky for Tavares because the way the team plays since he was last in it has changed a lot. Back then It was sort of like the 4231/442, Lacazette playing like a 10 and a half, 9 and a half kind of thing and that worked really well for Tavares because Sambi was in the double pivot with Partey, they covered for him, Tomiyasu was in the side so they had that balance between the full backs and it just about worked.
"So it's tricky for Tavares, it would be a massive blow to his confidence but I don't know if it's sort of a horrible decision to make, but one that might be necessary for Arsenal if they're going to claim top four, we'll have to see."
