Soon-to-be Celtic player Kieran Tierney was handed a rare Premier League start for Arsenal on Saturday evening.
Days after Arsenal’s stunning win over Real Madrid in the Champions League, Mikel Arteta rang the changes ahead of the second leg on Wednesday night at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Tierney, who will return to Celtic this summer on a free transfer, was one of the players to come into the XI and start in his usual left-back role against Thomas Frank’s Brentford.
In recent months, the Celtic Park faithful and the Arsenal fans would have seen their popular fullback used as a left-sided winger, at times, by his manager.
When Tierney left the field, just after the hour mark, Arsenal were leading 1-0 through a Thomas Partey goal – the Scotland international had a goal ruled out for offside in the first half.
Rising youngster Myles Lewis Skelly was brought on in his place, but the Scotsman’s performance, as well as the call to take him off, drew quite the response from the Arsenal fans.
Arsenal fans react to Mikel Arteta taking off Kieran Tierney against Brentford
Tierney has been fit and available for months and months, yet this was his first start of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign and third start overall.
Bearing that in mind, the Arsenal fans were annoyed with Arteta subbing Tierney off because they didn’t think it was necessary.
Especially given that Brentford would equalise from an area where Tierney could have prevented the goal, but overall, they were pretty pleased by what the soon-to-be returning Celtic man produced.
@feezzyy_ was disappointed with Arteta’s call: ‘There was no point making those changes. The only players that should have come off were Rice, Partey & Martinelli. Nwaneri, Zinchenko & Tierney should have played full game’.
@sfnzuanke highlighted Arteta’s mistake with Tierney: ‘Arteta certainly missed it tactically today.The LB was safe with Tierney who kept Mbeumo quiet for much of the game.Why take him out?MLS plays too much up the field & won’t return to cover as quickly as Tierney.Martinelli seemed too tired/lazy to tackle Kayode for that cross.’
@ArsenalN7 reacted to Tierney’s disallowed goal: ‘Life has been so cruel to Kieran Tierney’.
That Arteta sub once again has fans annoyed, as @Jacksonngari_ added: ‘I’m so disgusted with Mikel Arteta tonight. He could’ve taken off Jorginho at any point. He cannot move around his feet. He could’ve put MLS in the middle and left Tierney on.’
@Alseywowsey continued that theme: ‘Trossard is just so rubbish….. odegaard poor. Why take nwaneri, zinchenko, Tierney off when they dnt need resting????’
@mickyp1971 also made the same point: ‘Why did Arteta take Tierney off? No way would Brentford have got that overlap for the cross that led to the goal if Tierney had been there.’
@BaxFinanceFB stating Tierney’s worth: ‘Tierney’s been our brick wall on the left, just like Timber! Key to our defense this season’.
@Kheny_B commended Tierney’s display, despite the dropped points: Saliba, Partey, Kiwior and Tierney played great today. This is one game I just feel didn’t work out for us. As an Arsenal fan, I’m no longer bothered by the remaining games of the season. On to the next.
@Xweets85 says the Scotsman deserved more: Tierney made all the good runs today and nobody really attempted to pick him,the only time Nwaneri did,he picked him late…I don’t know if i was the only one spotting those perfect runs Tierney was taking.’
@biggabby66 rated Tierney display at ‘7.5’.
Celtic will be the ones who will benefit from it, as @tingz08 adds: ‘I can’t believe Arsenal will let Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney leave for free in the summer’.
@Afcmex_ says Tierney deserves more: ‘The biggest regret today is that Tí Ni can’t score his first goal of the season for Arsenal. No one deserves to score himself at least 1 goal more than Kieran Tierney after what he’s shown over time…!’
More love for Tierney, as @kotolvr adds: ‘kieran tierney i will forever love you’.
Celtic hero Tierney’s stats for Arsenal vs Brentford
You suspect Tierney will play some sort of role for Arsenal in Madrid, it’s just a case of how big, especially with Partey’s worrying injury.
In terms of form and fitness, the Celtic Treble-winner is getting stronger and better, so there is a chance that he could even start.
But all Tierney can do is talk on the field of play, and he did just that against the Bees, with WhoScored rating his performance at just under seven.
| Total tackles | Inter | Clear | Passes | PA% | Dribbles | Fouled | Touches | Rating |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 95.8 | 1 | 1 | 39 | 6.80 |
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