The midfielder did not have the best of games against Southampton.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has defended Fabio Vieira despite substituting him early following a less-than-convincing display against Southampton which ended in a 3-3 draw.
Vieira, a €35 million signing from Porto last summer, has struggled to break into Arteta’s starting eleven due to the stellar form of Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard.
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He had not started a match for the club since the 1-1 draw against Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 clash when Arsenal were eliminated from the competition.
Following an illness to Xhaka ahead of the game, Vieira was named in the starting line-up and he struggled to replicate and practice the fundamentals that the Swiss international executes in the left-sided number 8 role, which has made the former Gunners captain a key figure for the side this season.
Vieira appeared to let the pressure of the game affect him, as he looked to 'hide' and not ask for the ball, much to the rage of a lot of Arsenal fans and it was not surprising to see him subbed off early in the second half with Leandro Trossard coming on for him.
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Arteta was quick to jump to his defense, claiming that he struggled to form good cohesion with his teammates due to a lack of game time in recent weeks.
“It was a difficult match for a lot of players but for Fabio, he has not played a lot of minutes.He had a good period but the game starts as well instead of going one or two-nil up and then everything goes in their favor, it starts to go in a much more difficult way and that did not help.”
Arsenal will hope Xhaka will be fit enough in time for the game many are touting as a “final” against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium next week.
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