Arsenal legend backs fringe player to step up for injury-hit Gunners in north London derby | Football

The first north London derby of the season is coming up on Sunday afternoon and Mikel Arteta is dealing with a string of selection headaches.

Declan Rice is suspended after his red card against Brighton last time out, while Mikel Merino, Takehiro Tomiyasu and now Martin Odegaard are out injured.

Odegaard picked up an ankle injury on international duty with Norway on Monday night and although the severity of the problem hasn’t been officially confirmed by his club, he looks certain to miss out this weekend.

With Rice, Odegaard and Merino missing, Arteta has a serious problem in the middle of the park and Jorginho looks certain to be one of the players he turns to when Arsenal make the short journey across north London.

Parlour, who won three Premier League titles with Arsenal, feels the mentality will be key for the Gunners on Sunday and the Italy international is a great option to bring into the side, despite getting on the pitch yet this season.

‘You can never think that you’re missing players, “We’re going to struggle today”,’ Parlour told The Sun. ‘You’ve got to go out and think, “Hang on a minute, there’s another opportunity here”.

‘Jorginho won’t be used a lot but he’s probably a big influence in the dressing room and can come in, when needed, to do a brilliant job for the team.’

Given their injury issues in a vital area of the pitch, Parlour admits that a draw would be a ‘decent result’ on Sunday for his former side, despite also dropping points last time out against the Seagulls.

‘You can’t judge the league after four games,’ he said, via NetBet Online Casino.

‘It’s a rollercoaster ride because you are going to have times when you have key players missing, like Arsenal have now. They’ve got to ride it.

‘It’s a long, hard slog. I always said, if you’ve got a chance with eight games to go, then that’s when you’ve got to push. You have to stay in the hunt.

‘Looking at the scenario now, I would say a draw is a decent result away at Spurs. If we win it’s a massive bonus but don’t lose it.’

‘It is certainly a bitter loss because Rice is the linchpin of this team and his vast experience means that opponents have great respect for him,’ Pires told Wettbasis.com. 

‘Nevertheless, Arsenal can win this derby without him because the squad is better staffed.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.