{"id":319348,"date":"2026-04-16T03:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T22:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=319348"},"modified":"2026-04-16T03:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T22:04:08","slug":"joe-cole-urges-mikel-arteta-to-drop-arsenal-star-for-man-city-clash-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/joe-cole-urges-mikel-arteta-to-drop-arsenal-star-for-man-city-clash-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Cole urges Mikel Arteta to drop Arsenal star for Man City clash | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption>Joe Cole after Arsenal\u2019s Champions League win over Sporting (Picture: TNT Sports)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Joe Cole has backed Mikel Arteta to start out 16-year-old Max Dowman in Arsenal\u2019s potential Premier League title decider against Manchester City but says Viktor Gyokeres ought to be dropped.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners travel to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to tackle Man City in the most important game of the Premier League season.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal, chasing a primary league title since 2004, boast a six-point lead over Pep Guardiola\u2019s side but Man City\u2019s game in hand means the title is effectively in each club\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal missed the possibility to maneuver 12 points clear of their title rivals on Saturday as they slipped to a potentially damaging 2-1 defeat at home to Bournemouth.<\/p>\n<p>Manchester City still needed to make the most to maintain the title race alive and did so impressively, thumping Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>A goalless draw with Sporting on Wednesday night means Arsenal have won just one in all their last five games in all competitions.<\/p>\n<p>But that was enough to send Mikel Arteta\u2019s team through to the Champions League semi-finals courtesy of a 1-0 aggregate win over Portuguese champions Sporting.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2270954651.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27991077\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Sporting Clube de Portugal - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Quarter-Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Viktor Gyokeres was subbed off against Sporting (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It was one other underwhelming performance from Arsenal in the ultimate third, with Arteta\u2019s side creating only one shot on the right track.<\/p>\n<p>Arteta\u2019s \u00a364m summer signing Gyokeres was subbed off for Kai Havertz with over half an hour remaining and Cole believes the forwards should switch places on the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I feel Mikel Arteta goes with Kai Havertz since you\u2019re going to want to carry the ball up against Man City,\u2019 Cole said on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tntsports.co.uk\/\">TNT Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2271520053.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27991084\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Sporting Clube de Portugal - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Quarter-Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Max Dowman after Arsenal\u2019s quarter-final win (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018Viktor Gyokeres fluffed his lines tonight when it comes to holding the ball up and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0why he got dragged off. Havertz did that higher they usually looked a more composed team.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Teenage sensation Dowman was introduced at an analogous time as Havertz and Cole was impressed by his second-half cameo within the Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It might be a large call [to start Dowman against Man City] but he&#8217;s special, he\u2019s clearly special,\u2019 Cole added.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"442\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2271305249_832f28.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27985194\" alt=\"Arsenal FC Training Session And Press Conference - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Quarter-Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Mikel Arteta takes Arsenal to Man City on Sunday (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018What\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0already done at the sport at his age is incredible. He could start\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Arsenal\u00a0were\u00a0in a Champions League\u00a0quarter-final tonight and Arteta turned to Dowman and that shows you the religion they&#8217;ve in him.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We would even see him on Sunday and that might be huge.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Arteta was stuffed with praise for his Arsenal team after they reached back-to-back Champions League semi-finals for the primary time ever.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s a large moment,\u2019 Arteta said. \u2018To be a part of those 4 teams [in the semi-finals] is great work.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s an amazing night. I\u2019m very completely happy for all our people. We&#8217;re making steps that haven\u2019t been done at this club for 140 years.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal have played Manchester City twice to date this season, drawing 1-1 on the Emirates Stadium within the Premier League and losing 2-0 within the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Follow Metro Sport for the newest news on <meta charset=\"utf-8\"><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sportmetro\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metro_Sport\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/metrosportuk\/\">Instagram<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: How Man Utd can line up against Chelsea after fresh blow sparks defensive crisis<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Danny Murphy makes prediction for potential Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid semi-final<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Sporting suffer injury blow with star Mikel Arteta wanted at Arsenal ruled out<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Cole after Arsenal\u2019s Champions League win over Sporting (Picture: TNT Sports) Joe Cole has backed Mikel Arteta to start out 16-year-old Max Dowman in Arsenal\u2019s potential Premier League title decider against Manchester City but says Viktor Gyokeres ought to be dropped. The Gunners travel to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to tackle Man City [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":319349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20686],"tags":[2605,2604,1055,1128,7603,966,5479,2158,1054,2603,795,5686],"class_list":["post-319348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-arsenal","tag-arteta","tag-city","tag-clash","tag-cole","tag-drop","tag-football","tag-joe","tag-man","tag-mikel","tag-star","tag-urges"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319348"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319351,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319348\/revisions\/319351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}