Mikel Arteta has explained why he has dropped Alexandre Lacazette and Willian for Arsenal's clash with Southampton.
The two forwards were left out of the Spaniard's starting XI as part of four changes, two of which were enforced due to Granit Xhaka and Hector Bellerin's respective suspensions.
Lacazette and Willian have struggled for form of late in the Gunners' disappointing run of results which has seen them lose four straight home Premier League games.
Arteta's men head into this evening's clash with Southampton desperate not to become the first Arsenal side in history to lose five home league games on the bounce.
And in a bid to avoid that fate and to 'freshen' things up, Arteta has dropped Lacazette and Willian.
"We have to freshen it up," he explained the Arsenal boss to Amazon Prime. "We have Pepe as well who has missed the last three games.
"We need some creativity, some goal threat up front and the other changes are because we have to change something - we need results.
"There are players who have been playing really well mostly in the Europa League and they deserve a chance as well, an opportunity."
Arteta was also quizzed about his criticism of the likes of Xhaka and Pepe in recent weeks with the pair showing ill-discipline in their respective red cards.
The Spaniard replied: "It's just having the capacity to channel that energy to play with a lot of passion but with a cool head."
Of course, there is no getting away from Arsenal's poor form for Arteta, who now finds himself under pressure due to his inability to turn things around in recent weeks.
But he needs no reminding that the recent form the Gunners have shown is unacceptable by the club's standards.
"Losing four games at home for any big club is something that is not acceptable," he added. "There are a lot of things that happened in these four games but the reality is we lost them.
"The players have to start believing we can win four matches at home and today is the day."
