Gary Neville 'not surprised' to see 'struggling' Arsenal star hooked against Aston Villa

Gary Neville was ‘not surprised’ to see Christos Tzolis taken off against Aston Villa (Picture: Getty)

Manchester United legend Gary Neville felt Mikel Arteta was right to substitute Christos Tzolis in the side’s 1-0 defeat of Aston Villa as the winger appeared to be ‘struggling’ up against Matty Cash.

Tzolis has enjoyed a largely impressive start to his Arsenal career, hitting the ground running in pre-season before registering two assists in the side’s Community Shield victory over Manchester City .

The former Club Brugge man, signed for a fee of £34m, continued his run in Arteta’s starting XI in Arsenal’s opening Premier League win against Coventry City – and it was more of the same from the Greek.

He was the Gunners’ bright spark early on at the Emirates and took the shot at goal which Carl Rushworth could only palm into the path of Bukayo Saka, who made no mistake from close range to double the hosts’ lead.

However, Tzolis was given his toughest challenge yet in his second top-flight appearance for English champions, with Cash getting the better of the 24-year-old for the most part at Villa Park.

Tzolis was already on a booking when he brought down John McGinn in the 37th minute, prompting Arteta to hook his new signing at the halfway stage. ‘I’m not surprised he’s coming off and not just because of the yellow card,’ ex-United and England right-back Neville said on Sky Sports’ commentary as Eberechi Eze was sent on in place of Tzolis.

Tzolis had a difficult time up against Villa full-back Cash (Picture: AP)

Cash did a job on the Greece international at Villa Park (Picture: Paul Currie/Shutterstock)

‘He really was struggling on this side.

‘Matty Cash was really aggressive against him.’

Arsenal came through their nervy start against Unai Emery’s Villa to make the all-important breakthrough on the hour-mark, with Saka scrambling home Riccardo Calafiori to double his tally for the season.

‘It’s a brilliant goal, it really is,’ Neville said of Saka’s strike.

Saka broke the deadlock in the 59th minute (Picture: Reuters)

‘Arsenal are so patient, so trusting of their defence that they don’t need to rush. Calafiori does exceptionally well

‘Riccardo Calafiori just opens up his body and makes that little dart in behind, and then talk about putting it on a plate…

‘The run down the side of Aston Villa’s centre-backs which you must say there’s not been enough of.’

Neville went on: ‘Saka is in the dream position, it’s where you want your opposite winger. It’s a brilliant celebration in front of those Arsenal fans.’

The English champions maintained their perfect start in the league (Picture: AP)

The result at Villa Park saw Arsenal go level on points with Manchester City, Chelsea and newly promoted Hull City at the top of the table heading into the third round of matches.

Prior to kick-off, Thierry Henry – featuring as a guest on Monday Night Football – said he was ‘confident’ that his former club would successfully defend their Premier League crown .

The iconic Frenchman was asked if he deemed Arsenal to be the favourites, to which he replied: ‘Yeah, I think so.

‘You can see what Arsenal are about and what might happen, although you never know what can happen.

‘I just don’t see right now a team that can maybe challenge them, although City won pretty well the other day [against Crystal Palace ].

‘That’s what makes me even more confident that it can happen but I remember last year also, everyone thought Liverpool was going to be difficult to beat and then they imploded.’