Former Arsenal player and talkSPORT pundit Perry Groves has urged Mauricio Pochettino to play Juan Foyth in the centre of defence as he thinks that the young defender is a liability who could hand the keys to the North London derby to the Gunners.
He also said that Unai Emery must play Mesut Ozil despite the attacker being left out of the win against Bournemouth.
“Ozil has to play, he has to come back in,” Groves said on the Jim White show (Friday, talkSPORT, 10am).
“I understand why he was left out against Bournemouth but Mkhitaryan has has given the ball away too much. I’d play Ozil.
“Please let [Juan] Foyth play for Tottenham. He’s got one in him. He’s got a penalty inside him and I really hope he plays.”
OPINION
So much for unbiased punditry. Groves wears his heart on his sleeve and thinks that Arsenal can get something out of the north London derby. His views on Foyth seem to be entirely shaped by the youngster’s first Premier League start against Wolves, where he gave away two penalties towards the end of the game. That almost lost Tottenham two points but they held on and Pochettino refused to point the finger at his young star. It could easily be argued that neither were his fault – Kieran Tripper had to shoulder at least some of the blame – but he was rash. Foyth is actually a brilliant centre-back though and is destined for stardom at Tottenham. He’s been managed carefully by Pochettino and he was desperately unlucky to have the spotlight thrust on him after these two mistakes. However, could he cope with the pressure of the north London derby? It’s unlikely that we’ll get to find out, with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen surely nailed on to start at the Emirates on Sunday.