Neville tells Arteta to drop Arsenal star for Chelsea clash after ‘mauling’ vs Aston Villa

Gary Neville reckons Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta should drop Christos Tzolis for their next Premier League match against Chelsea on Sunday.

The Gunners beat Aston Villa 1-0 on Monday night to make it two wins out of two to start their Premier League title defence as a Bukayo Saka close-range finish settled the match.

Arsenal made Tzolis one of their main signings in the summer transfer window and he started brighly against Manchester City in the Community Shield and Coventry City in the Premier League.

However, Neville thinks the Greece international should now be dropped by Arteta for Eberechi Eze after an ineffective performance against Aston Villa.

Speaking on his Sky Sports podcast, Neville commented on Tzolis’ start at Arsenal: “Look, it’s early for him. I didn’t get too carried away last week and said I wanted to see a bit more from him.

“The Community Shield was obviously promising and then the game against Coventry as well. But I did think he was doing one thing well, he seems to just cut in, and right-backs will start to understand that.

“Matty Cash just set about him during the Aston Villa game, he was really aggressive and it was a little bit of a mauling. That will be good for Tzolis, just making him aware of what this is going to be like.

“He’s not going to have it easy and he’s going to have opponents who want to get really close to him and make it difficult for him. It was a tough game for him.

“But I thought Eze did really well when he came on. There’s a lot going on in that midfield for Eze given they’ve got Rice, Odegaard and now Guimaraes in there.

‘I would be surprised if Eze doesn’t play’ against Chelsea – Neville

“I think he may have to get really good at being a left-sided player for Arsenal. Sometimes you just need to look at which positions are opening up for you and basically take it.

“I thought he did really well in the second half, I would be surprised if he doesn’t play next week against Chelsea.

“It’s a big game and Mikel Arteta might just have to tell Tzolis, “I’m not going to put you into this one but watch this match.” Eze has a bit more strength about him and certainly more experience in the Premier League.

“I would be stunned if Eze doesn’t play next week because he played really well in the second half at Aston Villa.”

Former Manchester United and Liverpool striker Michael Owen also gave his views on Tzolis on Premier League Productions: “It will be interesting to see if Eze keeps his place against Chelsea at the weekend. I would suggest he might.

“He certainly did more than Tzolis in the game today so I think he could be in line for a start against Chelsea in a cracking game to start the season.”