MERSON SUGGESTS ARTETA WILL DROP £46M ARSENAL STAR; ‘WOULDN’T BE SURPRISED’.
Paul Merson has suggested that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta might drop Alexandre Lacazette against Southampton tomorrow afternoon.
The Gunners have a massive visit of the Saints at the Emirates Stadium.
Arteta’s side have lost their last two Premier League outings and now Tottenham are favourites to finish in the final Champions League qualification spot.
Arsenal might be six points behind fourth-placed Spurs before kickoff against Southampton, with their North London rivals hosting Brighton earlier in the afternoon.
Lacazette has struggled in each of the Gunners’ past two Premier League defeats and has only scored twice from open play this season.
And Merson has intimated that the France international might be dropped, but backs Arteta to get his troops back to winning ways.
He told Sportskeeda: “Arsenal could fancy their chances of picking up a win here. Alexandre Lacazette hasn’t been able to score goals and I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t play this game. Southampton are not going to sit back and defend this week, and I think that could play into Arsenal’s hands.”
Lacazette might be absent, but it may be an enforced change by the Arsenal manager.
The former Lyon hitman, a £46 million signing in 2017, hasn’t been spotted in training this week and therefore it looks probable that a knock of some description is jeopardising his chances of playing tomorrow, not his form.
