26 April 2023 , 13:09
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Micah Richards has urged Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola to select Kyle Walker for Wednesday night's title showdown against Arsenal despite the manager's fears over the right-back's limitations.
Guardiola has recently explained why Walker has found minutes harder to come by over the last few weeks and confessed it is because he feels the England international can't play in City's new tactical set-up. The new system would require Walker to operate as an inverted full-back, something his manager has publicly admitted he would fail to do.
"He cannot do it," Guardiola told the media earlier this month. "He will always have pace; Kyle at 60 years old will be the fastest player in this room. To play inside you have to have educated movements -- he doesn't have every one of the characteristics.
"He has played as a full back coming inside in the past with four at the back. He has done really well but this shape of three at the back and two in the middle, he cannot do it."
However, ex-City defender Richards feels Walker's inclusion in the starting line-up against Arsenal is vital given the amount of attacking threat the Gunners pose with their two young wide players.
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Walker would be tasked with trying to nullify Gabriel Martinelli, a 21-year-old with 15 league goals this term who has arguably been Arsenal's player of the season and shown drastically improved form.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Guardiola start Walker to deal with Martinelli? Comment below
Kyle Walker dealt with Gabriel Martinelli well at the Emirates in FebruaryThe Brazil international is enjoying a real purple patch in front of goal and has netted eight goals in his last 10 league games. Martinelli's presence offers Arsenal the chance to try and hit City on the counter-attack with his electric pace, something Richards has warned about.
"The pressure is off Arsenal because everyone expects City to win that game. One way to play against City is on the counter-attack. I would play [Kyle] Walker in that game to stop Martinelli," he said.
"His pace is frightening. Everyone talks about [Bukayo] Saka and [Martin] Odegaard, but nobody talks about Martinelli. On transition, he is frightening."
Martinelli is yet to score a goal against City, but did put in a stellar display against them at the Emirates last season. He was less influential when Guardiola's men rolled into North London back in Februrary.
City started Walker that night, who did such a good job of keeping Martinelli quiet that Arteta opted to withdraw the winger with just under 20 minutes to play in place of Leandro Trossard while Arsenal were searching for a goal.
It remains to be seen whether Guardiola will follow Richards' advice and deploy Walker with the task of silencing Arsenal's man of the moment.