Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has a number of selection headaches ahead of his side's Premier League clash against Aston Villa this afternoon (Saturday).
The Gunners saw a five-match winning streak end on Wednesday evening when they defeated 2-0 by Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium following a promising first-half display from the hosts. Eventually, Jurgen Klopp's men showed their class and clinched all three points thanks to goals from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino, with the north Londoners ruing the glorious chance Martin Odegaard spurned to put them just after the break.
However, Arteta and Co will need to quickly get back to winning ways when they travel to Birmingham this afternoon to play Steven Gerrard's Villa at Villa Park. Ahead of the highly-anticipated clash, the Spaniard has been voicing his frustrations with the lack of recovery time from the midweek match.
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Speaking about the quick turnaround in fixtures, he said: "Thank you so much to the Premier League for doing that. And they've done it again when we have to play Chelsea and Manchester United.
"So if they want to give them any advantage, I say to them today: 'Thank you so much for doing that'. It is always it's BT, it's Sky, it is this, it's that.
"But the one that is affected is Arsenal and the only thing that I care [about] and we care [about] is Arsenal. And for Arsenal it is not fair.”
Considering Arteta's worries, he may decide to rotate his starting XI, with the likes of Hale End academy graduate Emile Smith Rowe looking to start his first match in four weeks.
Back-up left-back Nuno Tavares may have hinted that he could be in line for a surprise start ahead of Kieran Tierney if his recent social media activity is anything to go by.
The Portuguese youngster, who signed from Benfica over the summer, posted a matchday graphic on his Instagram story, perhaps meaning that he could be handed some minutes in the Arsenal side this afternoon.
