Ian Wright urges Arteta to drop ‘negative’ Arsenal player against Tottenham

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Arsenal legend Ian Wright has offered Mikel Arteta some selection advice ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Tottenham on Sunday.

The Gunners are in terrible form in the league having won just once since the start of November. Just four wins in 10 games has pushed us down to 14th in the league table, but it is still early days and Arteta can turn things around quickly.

However, the biggest issue for the Arsenal boss at the moment is our lack of goals. We have scored just 10 goals in as many games in the Premier League this season, which is simply not good enough.

The Gunners lack creativity in the final third and summer signing Willian – who was brought in to solve that very issue – has been poor in almost every game apart from his debut at Fulham back in September.

Wright wants Willian dropped against Tottenham

Wright has labelled the Brazilian’s style of play as ‘negative’ and has urged Arteta to drop him for the derby this weekend. The Arsenal legend wants either Reiss Nelson or Bukayo Saka to start on the right – both of them have done well in that position in the past.

He said on Wrighty’s House Podcast: “I’d try to throw something else into the mix, Reiss Nelson or even [Bukayo] Saka on the right. But Saka’s going to be on the left so I’d put Reiss Nelson on the right instead of Willian because we know what Willian’s going to do.”

“For me he’s been a little bit negative with the way he’s been playing, a lot of backwards passing. You need somebody who can at least get back and progress the ball. If Saka can go and really put pressure on [Serge] Aurier, that’s where I think, if we’re going to get any kind of joy, then I think Saka’s got to go up there and put pressure on him.”

A front three of Saka, Aubameyang and Nelson could work, but we need to fit in another attacker. Arteta used Alexandre Lacazette as an unnatural number 10 last week, and the Frenchman could complete a very dangerous attacking quartet for Arsenal.

Tottenham will go into the game as favourites, but form and past results mean nothing in a derby. Arsenal need a victory in the Premier League to turn our season around, and what better way to get back to winning ways than to smash the enemy in their own backyard.