When you’re defending a lead against an in-form Premier League opponent, you want Lucas Torreira on the pitch.
After all, no one tidies up like he does in that key role in front of the back four.
But we had to do without Lucas for the closing stages of our 2-1 win at Bournemouth on Sunday after Unai Emery replaced him with Matteo Guendouzi.
Afterwards, the head coach explained why.
“He said to us that he was a little tired and that there was a possibility [he could get injured],” said Unai.
“He was giving us good balance but also we have to be clever because he played with the national team for two matches and sometimes you need to listen to the players when they sometimes need rest.
“Matteo is working very well and also I think we need every player. This change was because we needed to give him a rest.”
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