PROFIT AND TROSS

Gunners boss Arteta sprung a surprise by playing Belgian star up front... but it worked a treat

- NEIL MOXLEY

UP against Leicester's twin given Trossard's schooling under peaks, Leandro Trossard looked Graham Potter at Brighton, that he more like the mascot, than an could fit so seamlessly into the Arsenal centre-forward.

With stoppers Wout Faes and Harry Souttar towering over him, the odds of the little Belgian international winning any sort of aerial battle were minimal.

Good job, then, that Mikel Arteta has built a team whose attackers have speed and flexibility, a fleetness of foot and mind, as basics.

The Spaniard sprang a surprise at the King Power - and not just by naming Oleksandr Zinchenko as skipper-for-the-day in a nod to the anniversary of the Russian invasion of the player's native Ukraine.

Arteta also decided that Eddie Nketiah should be given a rest, and so he asked Trossard to spearhead his attack. It was a wise move.

The decision gives Arsenal's boss yet more ammunition in his title quest, as squeaky-bum time draws ever closer.