Ray Parlour says Mikel Arteta made a ‘mistake’ in moving Granit Xhaka out of midfield to play at left-back during Arsenal’s defeat to Brighton over the weekend.
The Gunners fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to the Seagulls on Saturday as their hopes of finishing in the top four took a blow.
With Kieran Tierney expected to miss the remainder of the campaign with a knee injury, Arteta opted to start with Xhaka at left-back, instead of the out-of-form .
With also missing through injury, Arteta chose a midfield three of Albert Sambi Lokonga, and .
Arsenal legend Parlour admits he would’ve left Xhaka in the centre of the park for Saturday’s clash.
‘I think Xhaka, he’s not a left-back, we know that,’ Parlour told talkSPORT.
‘I would’ve left him in central midfield, he’s always on the ball and you know you’re going to have a lot of possession against Brighton.
‘So I think that was a little bit of a mistake.
‘But he’s made that decision that they’re not going to have a lot of play down the right-hand side, which in the end, the first goal came from that area.
‘Partey, they did miss him. He had a really poor game against Crystal Palace but before that, he was controlling the midfield – the tempo, possession of the ball. Tierney, he’s out for the season.
‘So it’s been a bad week for , but they’ve still got a chance [to finish in the top four].’
Arsenal trail fourth-placed Tottenham by three points, but have a game in hand over their north London rivals.
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