Arsenal: Neville picks one change Arteta should make against Man City after Spurs win

Joe Williams
Gary Neville on Arsenal
Gary Neville reckons Mikel Arteta will make just one change for their next match.

Gary Neville thinks Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta should make just one change for their next match after beating Tottenham 1-0 in the North London Derby.

Gabriel Magalhaes scored the only goal of the game as the Gunners got local bragging rights on Sunday and closed the gap on title rivals Manchester City to two points.

With Arsenal dropping points against Brighton before the international break, it was key for them to pick up the three points over the weekend to keep their title challenge on track.

Declan Rice’s suspension and an injury to Martin Odegaard left Arteta with a selection headache ahead of the fixture with Gabriel Martinelli and Jorginho coming into the side to replace the missing duo.

And following their narrow win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Manchester United legend Neville reckons Arteta will keep the Arsenal side the same for their next Premier League fixture, apart from bringing Rice back in for Jorginho.

Neville said on his own Sky Sports podcast: “I think he [Rice] will come in just for Jorginho and then leave it as it is. I think Trossard did well in that role – the number 10 – so I don’t think he’ll change that.

“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.”

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Before facing champions Manchester City at the weekend, Arsenal have a Champions League clash against Atalanta on Thursday as they look to get their European campaign off to a perfect start.

And Neville doubts that Arteta “will be doing mass rotation” of his side against Atalanta with maybe a couple of key changes to the Arsenal attack.

Neville added: “You can trust the 12 or 13 players that are his best players. 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].”