Keown: Wenger must axe 25-year-old mainstay to ensure NLD victory for Arsenal v Tottenham
Martin Keown thinks Arsene Wenger must axe Granit Xhaka if his side are to get anything out of the north London derby v Tottenham on Saturday.
He also thinks that Wenger needs to change his zonal marking.
Before Saturday’s massive Premier League clash, the 51-year-old wrote in his column in The Mail: “If Arsene Wenger’s objective is to win the game by dominating possession, then he should play Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey in midfield.
“Granit Xhaka is not doing the defensive job Arsenal would have expected after paying £35million for him.
“Manchester United lost the midfield battle at Wembley last week and Wenger won’t want that vision of Xhaka struggling to retain the ball.”
Keown also said that he “cannot believe” the amount of space the Spurs striker is given in the box in set-piece situations, having scored a number of tap-ins from corners.
Keown believes that the zonal system that Arsene Wenger currently uses to block out the opposition attack will not work against the England hitman and the Frenchman needs to man-mark the 24-year-old instead.
He wrote in The Mail: “I don’t think you can man-mark Kane, but you have to pay him special attention when the ball is in and around the box.
“I cannot believe how easy it has been for Kane to score some of his goals recently, finding the net with tap-ins from corners. How can defenders be giving him that much space?”
Kane meanwhile has been speaking about his desire to put one over Arsenal due to being rejected by the club which he described as ‘the best thing that ever happened’ when he was eight-years-old – a pain which still drives him on today.
Keown predicts a 1-1 in the game.
In other Arsenal news, Gunners handed boost in pursuit of top-flight Euro attacker.