Gary Neville has made his prediction (Picture: YouTube)
Gary Neville has urged Mikel Arteta to not tweak too heavily with his winning formula for Arsenal’s huge clash with Manchester City next weekend.
Despite missing key players on Sunday, the Gunners ground out a vital 1-0 win against north London rivals Tottenham to remain just two points behind City in the early stages of the Premier League title race.
But Arteta’s side will have a chance to leapfrog City when they take on Pep Guardiola’s side at the Etihad Stadium.
While Arsenal are still expected to be without Martin Odegaard, who Arteta was unable to provide a meaningful update on at full-time on Sunday, the Gunners will be boosted by the return of Declan Rice.
The Englishman received the first red card of his career against Brighton prior to the international break but is back available having served his one-match suspension.
Neville expects Rice to come back into the side straight away and believes it may come at the expense of Jorginho, but urged Arteta to keep the faith with Leandro Trossard in midfield having impressed in a deeper role against Spurs.
‘I think he [Rice] will come in just for Joginho and then leave it as it is,’ the former United full-back said on the Gary Neville Podcast. ‘I think Trossard did well in that role – the number 10 – so I don’t think he’ll change that.
Neville thinks Declan Rice will return in place of Jorginho against Manchester City (Picture: Getty)
‘I think he’ll keep it simple. I don’t think Mikel Arteta is doing anything nowadays that is surprising us and I say that in a positive sense and a complimentary sense.
‘He’s got such confidence in his own team and how they play he doesn’t need to try and think of fancy different systems or shocking anybody with the team selection. He’s got stability.
‘When you’ve got stability and an 11 that works together well and you can just change one or two then there is no need to do anything clever.’
Prior to their clash with City, Arsenal face a midweek trip to Atalanta for their first match of the Champions League, but Neville warned Arteta against rotating too heavily to save players for the weekend.
‘You can trust the 12 or 13 players that are his best players,’ Neville added. ‘He might bring in [Gabriel] Jesus and [Raheem] Sterling on Thursday night but I don’t think he will be doing mass rotation.
‘You can’t afford to do that and I don’t think you should do that. You have to trust that these players are capable physically of handling a Sunday-Thursday-Sunday [schedule].’
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