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Pundit tears into Nuno Tavares after Arsenal loss at Crystal Palace
Jermaine Pennant has questioned whether Nuno Tavares is good enough to play for Arsenal following the left-back’s substitution during their defeat on Monday night.
The Gunners were beaten 3-0 by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. With that, they missed the chance to move back into the top-four in the Premier League.
Arsenal were dealt a blow ahead of the contest with Kieran Tierney missing out due to injury. The problem however, presented Tavares with the chance to make his first start since the FA Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest in January.
The Portuguese was replaced after 35 minutes at the City Ground. And unfortunately, his evening did not last too much longer on Monday. Arsenal were 2-0 down at the break, and Mikel Arteta decided to replace him with Gabriel Martinelli. That saw Granit Xhaka moved to left-back.
It has a really mixed first season at the Emirates for the 22-year-old. But Pennant suggested that he has serious questions about whether Tavares is up to the level required for Arsenal.
“Every time I’ve seen him play he’s got the Captain Hook. He’s been absolutely ripped off the pitch,” .
“The worst one was Forest, where he was awful, and he’s been hooked again.
“It just shows is he up to it? Is he Arsenal pedigree? Can he really perform at this level or in this team?”
Too soon to write Nuno Tavares off at Arsenal
Some may be alarmed by how Tavares has fared in his last two starts. But to suggest that he was the only Arsenal player to struggle on Monday would be ridiculously unfair.
In fact, some supporters would probably be able to pick out several others who were worse.
Arsenal fans have seen glimpses of the best of Tavares earlier in the campaign. So there is absolutely no reason to write him off altogether less than a year after his move.
He is struggling right now. But he has the potential to turn his fortunes around at some stage.