Kieran Tierney has started just three Premier League games this season (Photo: Getty)
Former Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre believes that Kieran Tierney needs to remain patient but can understand if the player is frustrated.
While he has featured in 16 games so far this season, Tierney has started just three Premier League matches despite being recognised as Arsenal’s best left-back.
The 25-year-old was once again benched for Arsenal’s latest game, the 5-0 home win over Nottingham Forest last Sunday.
Fitness issues and the form of his fellow defenders have restricted his chances, with centre-back Ben White thriving at right-back, which in turn has moved Takehiro Tomiyasu to the left-hand side.
Tierney has so far started all of the Gunners’ Europa League fixtures and is expected to once again be in the XI for their final group game vs FC Zurich on Thursday.
But there is a feeling that the Scotland international may be growing frustrated with his lack of league game time this season having been, when fit, near undroppable for Arsenal since his £24million move from Celtic in 2019.
‘It’s true that the manager [Mikel Arteta] is using options that we wouldn’t guess at the beginning of the season,’ Silvestre told bettingexpert.
Takehiro Tomiyasu has been in excellent form for Arsenal (Photo: Getty)
‘You know, Ben White at right-back and Tomiyasu at left-back against [Mohamed] Salah, for instance.
‘There’s a lot of competition. Tierney is a good player so again, it’s not easy to deal with these situations.
‘But he also has a very good mentality, he just needs to keep patient and wait for opportunities. There will be a lot of games to play.’
Tierney has spoken previously about his lack of minutes this campaign but insisted he is ready to play whatever part is necessary for the Gunners, who are impressively at the top of the table.
He told BT Sport: ‘It’s been tough. I missed pre-season coming back from an injury, and the first game I played in was the Palace one – that was the first week of training that I had.
‘I’ve just been trying to get minutes here and there so it’s been a tough start, but whether I’m first, second or third-choice, I’m just going to keep working hard and see where it takes me.’
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He’s started just three Premier League games this season.
