Former Arsenal stars Martin Keown and Gilberto Silva have shared their thoughts on Unai Emery's midfield options following an injury to Dani Ceballos.
The Real Madrid loanee was forced off in the second half of Arsenal's 1-1 draw against Vitoria in the Europa League, which will likely lead to an extended stint on the sidelines for the Spaniard.
With Granit Xhaka stripped of the captaincy and yet to feature since his clash with Arsenal supporters in the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace, Emery is left with slim pickings among his senior options.
However, Keown and Gilberto believe that this could work in Arsenal's favour as it may push Emery towards picking the ideal partnership in the middle of the park.
“These are the two best midfield players but it’s taken too long for the manager to get to this. It’s a process of elimination really, Xhaka is not the fans favourite, I don’t think he’ll play at the weekend," he told BT Sport.
“But I think you can play these two and Ozil as well. I think back to the great Real Madrid team which was Sami Khedira and Xabi Alonso, who sat deep in the midfield, and Ozil created more assists than anybody ever for Cristiano Ronaldo that season.
“We have to find a way to get Ozil to work in that way because that is the attacking way in which Arsenal play.”
Gilberto then added how Guendouzi would be a better option in the middle of the park than Ceballos tactically for the upcoming matches and how he can partner Torreira in the coming weeks.
“With Guendouzi I think they have more power in the middle. He creates a bit more running in space because Ceballos was dropping back too much,” he explained.
“Guendouzi stood a little bit further away in order to get the ball and find the guys up front, who were running. For the next game, I think Guendouzi would be right for that. It can be a possibility to play together with Torreira, to have two of them to protect the back four.”
