Former Arsenal player Charlie Nicholas believes the Gunners must take a gamble on bringing back three recently injured players into the starting line up following the poor display against Watford.

The TV pundit was especially critical of Sokratis’s performance at Vicarage Road, and rather than see the Greek international stay in the side, he is hoping the likes of Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin are ready to step in:

“What is the attraction to Sokratis Papastathopoulos? I would play Kieran Tierney on Thursday and see if Hector Bellerin could start too.”

“Konstantinos Mavropanos is still game time away from being fit. It would be the end if Shkodran Mustafi was to be brought back. We need to get Rob Holding, Bellerin and Tierney back into the side as soon as possible.”

Considering that Tierney’s last game was in May, Bellerin last played in January and Holding has not featured since December last year, it’s a big ask for all three to return and make the difference to the backline.

It must be said that it wasn’t just the defence that performed poorly against Watford, the whole team were off their game in the second half, and changing personnel won’t solve all the problems.

Manager Unai Emery will be hoping for a big reaction from his players when his side face Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday.