Former Newcastle and Manchester United striker Andy Cole has questioned Arsenal manager Mike Arteta‘s decision to drop Alexandre Lacazette for the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City at the weekend.

The Gunners boss made the surprise call to leave his top goalscorer on the bench, with him favouring winger Willian to play through the middle instead. Cole said it showed a lack of faith in Lacazette:

“I think he is being disrespectful to Lacazette as well. Willian is not a centre-forward. If you have got a centre-forward on the bench who is your top goalscorer as well, to turn around and say, ‘Look, I am going to play Willian as the centre-forward. You sit on the bench and watch him play centre-forward’, I think that is very disrespectful.”

Lacazette’s form has been a major bone of contention in previous seasons but he has scored in every game he has started in this campaign so it was strange to see the Frenchman left out once again.

Eddie Nketiah was given the nod ahead of the 29-year-old in the 2-1 win against Sheffield United before the international break and the selection of Willian against City, who has very rarely played as a centre-forward, was a major surprise.

After drawing a blank at the Etihad, you would hope that Arteta has learned his lesson and will reinstate Lacazette in upcoming fixtures.