Kieran Tierney could have perfect chance to respond to Mikel Arteta warning

The Scotland international has endured a stop-start beginning to this season but could be the man Mikel Arteta calls upon to thwart Mohamed Salah on Sunday evening

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Mikel Arteta previews Arsenal’s clash with Liverpool

Kieran Tierney has been Arsenal’s deputy left-back for the entirety of this season so far following the acquisition of former Manchester City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko.

The Ukrainian international has shone for the most part this term, with the kind of technical traits he picked up while training as a playmaker in the early stages of his career coming in handy since his arrival at the Emirates. Tierney on the other hand, has been left out in the cold and been forced to accept minutes off of the bench at the back-end of games.

That trend could finally change on Sunday when Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool pay a visit to the Emirates. For all of Zinchenko’s progressive qualities, the general consensus among Arsenal fans remains that Tierney is the superior out and out defender.

For the majority of the current campaign, Arsenal have taken on sides where the Gunners are the ones expected to have the lion’s share of possession and try to unlock resilient defences while remaining wary to counter-attacks.

Sunday’s game against the Reds marks one of the first times where the opposition could realistically have more of the ball and therefore Arsenal will have more defending to do – potentially to the benefit of Tierney.

Considering who ever does take up that left-back position will be tasked with trying to nullify the threat of Mohamed Salah, it seems wise to play the strongest defender of the two.

Kieran Tierney has the chance to play his way back into Arsenal’s starting left-back role

HAVE YOUR SAY! Who should start against Liverpool – Tierney or Zinchenko? Comment below

Many had expected Tierney to start from the off for last weekend’s North London derby contest at home to Spurs, but with Dejan Kulusevski ruled out though injury – Spurs’ danger man on the left – Arsenal could play Zinchenko and try to gain dominance through the ex-City star’s on the ball ability.

With that being said, the Scotsman came on and gave a good account of himself, much like he did against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League on Thursday night from the start.

Despite this, Arsenal legend Martin Keown has warned Tierney he is clearly not “meeting the needs” of his manager Mikel Arteta.

“I feel sorry for him,” Keown told BT Sport while discussing Tierney fortunes. “He’s a high-calibre player and he comes on in every game. But obviously, you’re not completely meeting his [the manager’s] needs.

“It shows you the quality and strength of the squad when he’s not starting. You want to have that competition and the level gets higher.”

Zinchenko has certainly raised the technical ceiling within the Arsenal defence, but Tierney is more than comfortable on the ball himself and would send quite the message to his manager if it was him on the left of an Arsenal back-four that kept Liverpool at bay.