Mikel Arteta explains club’s weakness and plans to replace Tierney

Mikel Arteta admits he has no natural backup for Kieran Tierney.

Tierney has featured in 33 games for the Gunners this season who is expected to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

The 23-year old suffered knee ligament damage during their 3-0 defeat against the Reds and is expected to be out for four to six weeks.

Mikel Arteta admits he needs to setup his squad in a different way to cover his absence.

“Yes, we’re going to have to make some adjustments because his qualities are unique and we don’t have anybody with his qualities within the squad unless we start to move a lot of pieces,” said the Gunners boss.

“Without any time to train, it is a little bit dangerous to do, but we’re going to have to find different ways to fill that gap and use other things that can be as effective as well.”

Mikel Arteta could call on Cedric Soares or Bukayo Saka to fill in the left-back position.

“That’s the reality,” said Arteta of his conundrum. “You have to change something and you have to find a different way of attacking.

“At the same time, the structure when you are defending and in transitional moments has to be stable and has to be done by players that are comfortable doing that.

“We knew that position was a weakness around the squad, because we didn’t have anybody to replace Kieran, and we have to find different solutions.”

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