Mikel Arteta suggests £12m Arsenal squad player is about to play a much bigger role in title-race

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Although his hand has often been forced, Mikel Arteta has been much more willing to shuffle his Arsenal squad this season.

Arsenal have endured a serious amount of injuries so far this season, with issues to Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka threatening to derail their title hopes.

However, both are now fit and firing, and Arteta has issued an injury update ahead of the Gunners facing Manchester United on Wednesday evening.

Arsenal can’t afford anything but three points against Ruben Amorim and his team given that Liverpool are showing no signs of slowing down right now.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	13	11	1	1	26	8	18	34
2	ArsenalArsenal	13	7	4	2	26	14	12	25
3	ChelseaChelsea	13	7	4	2	26	14	12	25

Of course, with the festive period beckoning, Arsenal will need to make regular changes to avoid the kind of burnout they’ve suffered in their recent efforts to lift the Premier League trophy.

Mikel Arteta comments on Jorginho’s ‘biggest quality’ at Arsenal

Speaking at his press conference, Arteta was asked about the firefighter role that Jorginho is now playing for the club.

Jorginho was brilliant against West Ham United, coming in for Thomas Partey who missed out with a muscle injury.

READ MORE: Porto manager suggests Mikel Arteta made one key mistake with ‘lethal’ Fabio Vieira at Arsenal

Therefore, the Italian may also be needed at the Emirates Stadium in midweek.

As a result, Arteta was asked about Jorginho’s ability to step into games after long periods on the sidelines, something he’s still so brilliant at doing at the age of 32.

Arteta replied: “That’s his quality [being able to step into big games], I think I always mention that his biggest quality is the capacity that he has to make others better.

“Last season it was the same, at the start there are less games, you don’t play that many mid-weeks and he had less time to play.

“I always told him, ‘be ready’ because the time is going to come when we need him and it’s not going to be ‘in one week you need to play’, it’s going to be ‘you need to play now’ or ‘you’re going to play tomorrow’.

“And the way he prepares is top, so when he needs to play he’s already ready.”

Gary Neville thinks Jorginho should be pushed up the pecking order

Interestingly, Gary Neville was also full of praise for Jorginho when speaking on Sky Sports’ coverage of Arsenal’s 5-2 win over West Ham.

The pundit confessed that he preferred the Italian over Declan Rice and Partey as the number six.

And judging by Arteta’s words, Neville might see the midfielder included much more often in the coming weeks and months.

Neville said: “I like Jorginho in this Arsenal team from a point of view that he is more smooth on the ball.

“He puts that ball into the spaces where Odegaard operates much better than Rice and Partey do.”