“The three of them lost 12 duels and completed ZERO dribbles combined, they’ve done well for Arsenal in the past but it’s time to say ‘Goodbye”- Mikel Arteta confirms he’s set to ruthlessly fire THREE £250k-p/w Arsenal trio

Arsenal: Arteta must drop shocking £250k-a-week trio at the Emirates

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta must drop £250k-a-week trio after their performance in the north London derby vs Spurs.

• Three Arsenal players massively let Mikel Arteta down during Arsenal’s north London derby clash against Tottenham in the Premier League. 
•  The Gunners threw away the lead twice in a 2-2 draw against Spurs at the Emirates, and three players in particular delivered woeful performances. 
• Arsenal’s Carabao Cup clash against Brentford in mid-week means Arteta must simply drop the trio from his starting line-up.

What started off as another potential north London derby win for Arsenal, turned into a nightmare, with Mikel Arteta’s side gifting Tottenham two easy goals to claim a point in a thrilling Premier League encounter at the Emirates.

Whether it was the tired legs from the mid-week Champions League game against PSV or not, the Gunners just didn’t look themselves, and a couple of particularly woeful performances led to a frustrating afternoon for the home side.

Arsenal’s Carabao Cup clash against Brentford on Wednesday gives Arteta the opportunity to rest and rotate anyway, but judging by the performances of these three players down below, the Spaniard may well consider dropping them. Here are the three players who let their manager down against Spurs on Sunday…

Eddie Nketiah

Given that Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard were out injured – the latter being ruled out was a source of surprise when the team-sheets were announced – Arteta almost had the choice taken away in terms of whether Eddie Nketiah would play or not.

The Arsenal boss would surely have been hoping that the striker who had been recently called up to the England senior squad would deliver on the biggest occasion, but he desperately fluffed his lines. Such was Arteta’s faith in Nketiah, that it was the senior man, Gabriel Jesus, who was shunted out wide, with the Arsenal academy product being tasked with leading the line.

While England U21s’ record goal-scorer certainly worked his socks off like usual, the lack of an end product was again the big let-down for him. His best chance of the game when he picked up on an errant back-pass from Spurs left-back Destiny Udogie, and despite having all the time in the world to either pick his spot or try and lay it off to the onrushing Fabio Vieira, he only managed to strike it straight at Guglielmo Vicario and out for a corner.

The fact he managed just six total passes in the entire 90 minutes that he was on the pitch tells you everything you need to know about both the lack of service to him, but also his complete lack of involvement in the game.

It was no surprise that Gary Neville on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports raised some concerns over Nketiah’s movement in and around the box during the game, with one particular corner seeing the striker sit back rather than attack the far post after a flick-on. While much of the foundational pieces have been laid, it seems that number nine is still the place that could do with upgrading for Arsenal.

Jorginho

While it would be far too harsh to blame Jorginho for costing Arsenal all three points against Spurs, the Italy international’s error was no doubt unforgivable. For a player of his experience and usual calmness on the ball, the midfielder just didn’t seem to read the game right straight after the kick-off following Bukayo Saka’s successful penalty.

The Gunners needed to just take the emotion out of the game for a few minutes after retaking the lead, and instead of realising that, Jorginho dilly-dallied and got caught far too easily.

Declan Rice’s potential injury and absence would rob Arteta of another first-team star in the middle of the park, given Thomas Partey is no closer to making a return to action anytime soon.

Mohamed Elneny however is clearly someone the Arsenal manager rates, and having returned from his own injury to make the bench against Spurs, the Egypt international may well consider his chances of a surprise start shoot up considerably, despite Arteta admitting that he would back Jorginho to the hilt.

Fabio Vieira

Arguably the man with the most anonymous display of the lot, Fabio Vieira’s performance would have come as a major shock to Arteta given how impressively the Portuguese man has started off this season.

After scoring the winning penalty in the Community Shield victory over Manchester City at Wembley, the former Porto man seemed to have taken a real leap from his debut campaign at the Emirates – two fine assists in back-to-back games against Fulham and Manchester United seemed to indicate that.

And, after being given the nod over Kai Havertz in that number eight role in midfield, Arteta would have wanted Vieira to stamp his mark on the game. Instead, the physicality once again seemed to get the better of him, and up against Yves Bissouma and Pape Mate Sarr, the diminutive play-maker struggled to get going and was eventually hooked at half-time.

While Havertz himself has failed to hit the heights since his move from Chelsea, Arsenal fans may instead be hoping that one of their one in Emile Smith Rowe is given more of a run-out. After Vieira’s virtually anonymous display against Spurs, that decision could come as soon as this Wednesday against Brentford in the Carabao Cup.

Earning a combined £250k-per-week as per Salary Sport, the trio looked way off the pace in the game against Spurs, and Arteta has a big decision to make not just for the cup clash, but also going forward. The Gunners are running into injury problems heading into that titanic tussle against Manchester City in the Premier League in a couple of weeks time, and they can ill afford to be carrying passengers.